This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
WATER utility Urban Utilities has signed up to be the anchor tenant of a new $375 million, A grade tower in Brisbane’s fast-rising inner suburb Fortitude Valley.
Tribune Properties and LKM Holding’s Tim Mahony and Andrew King are developing the 17 storey tower at 31 Duncan Street on what is known as the China Town Mall car park.
Designed by architects Nettleton Tribe, the new tower will consist have 25,000 sqm of commercial space with side core floor plates of over 2,000 sqm, and 464 car parks, with 80 metres of frontage to the Duncan Street Mall.
Urban Utilities will occupy 6,015 sqm over three levels for its head office. It is currently based at Growthpoint Properties’ 15 Green Square Close in the same suburb.
The office, retail and car park site at 31 Duncan Street is on 4,183 sqm of land and was picked up from AsheMorgan’s AM Valley Heart Pty Ltd late in 2017 for $64 million. The investment house bought the site in 2015 as part of a portfolio with the heritage listed TC Berne building at 315 Brunswick Street for $79 million from the Tseng family. A previous Nettleton Tribe development scheme for the site had been approved for 900 apartments.
At the time of Tribune and LKM’s acquisition, the site had 96% occupancy by income and an 8.9 year weighted average lease expiry. About 62% of the income was underpinned by a 15-year lease to Secure Parking running to 2031.
The developers had previously built on the 53 Albert Street car park. Challenger Life sold that tower in 2018 to JP Morgan for $250 million.
31 Duncan Street will also feature a landscaped roof terrace, running track and gym, end-of-trip facilities, and touchless accessories as part of a COVID-safe work environment. It is expected to bring daytime activation to the mall, which generally receives most of its commercial traffic in the evenings.
It forms part of roughly $2.5 billion worth of development occurring in the vibrant city fringe locale, and is also located within Brisbane’s Urban Renewal Precinct.
31 Duncan Street will target a 5 Star Green Star Design and 5 Star NABERS Energy rating.
