Hong Kong family outlays $315m for Sydney tower
A private Hong Kong family has swooped on a major office tower in the heart of Sydney, picking up the O’Connell St block from the Oxford Investa Property Partnership for about $315 million.
The rapid-fire purchase knocked out rivals for the building at 6-10 O’Connell St and fuelled expectations the final asset in the Oxford-Investa portfolio in North Sydney would trade at a premium.
Oxford has now sold close to $3 billion worth of office towers out of the former Investa Office Fund portfolio and only 99 Walker Street, North Sydney remains to be sold, with Oxford keeping core towers.
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The Canadian group took the $4.4 billion IOF portfolio private last year and has since ridden the wave of capital keen to buy into Australian cities to sell at premium prices, justifying its late play against US private equity group Blackstone for the portfolio.
In a series of sales handled by Cushman & Wakefield at a portfolio level, and Savills on the 6-10 O’Connell St asset, Oxford has sold off key towers to back new developments, including two buildings proposed above the planned Pitt Street metro station.
The B-grade tower spans about 16,317sqm. Major tenants include GCKW, Farrar & Wybenga, AT&T and Villridge.
The 14,596sqm office space has more than 40 tenants and the building also houses Restaurant Hubert and Balcon by Tapavino.
A key drawcard of the 1970 tower was the potential for a future redevelopment of the 26-storey building, and the buyer has the capacity for a longer-term overhaul.
The tower sports harbour views. Sydney development sites have become hot property with Dexus, Mirvac and Lendlease all preparing new sites.
In North Sydney, the Walker St tower has 21 levels of office space, with sweeping Sydney Harbour views from the upper floors. The 1988 building spans 19,295sqm and is on a 2263sqm site. Major tenants include Jemena, GE Capital and Coles.
The building is being sold by Cushman & Wakefield and Knight Frank.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
