Marquette snaps up Brisbane Southbank tower as Mirvac exits in $104m play
Marquette Properties has swooped on an A-grade office complex in the city’s Southbank, snapping up a Grey St tower from Mirvac for just over $104m.
Brisbane-based funds house Marquette Properties has swooped on an A-grade office complex in the city’s Southbank, snapping up a Grey St tower from Mirvac for just over $104m.
The sale is part of a broader disposal program by Mirvac which is seeking to offload about $1.3bn of assets and pour the proceeds into developing new projects.
The company also has its half stake in 60 Margaret St and the MetCentre on the block, as well as 367 Collins St in Melbourne’s CBD up for sale.
Mirvac is planning to fund developments including an overhaul of Sydney’s Harbourside Shopping Centre and a new office tower at 55 Pitt St with the proceeds.
The $104.4m off-market sale was handled by CBRE’s Tom Phipps, who noted that funds groups were chasing assets.
“With very little REIT, wholesale or offshore direct capital currently active we are seeing syndicators, club investors and privates taking advantage of the current market volatility to secure quality assets that larger institutions deem too small or non-core,” Mr Phipps said.
For Marquette, which had made approaches for the building, the purchase represents yet another step up in the Brisbane office market where it has already made its presence felt by buying assets from listed real estate investment trusts.
Its acquisitions include the Gold Tower and the Blue Tower, which were purchased from Dexus and its funds, and in Sydney it also bought from listed developer Lendlease, picking up part of the Barangaroo restaurant precinct on Sydney Harbour.
Marquette will put the building at 189 Grey St into a new unlisted fund. The 12 level, A-grade office complex comprises 12,595 sq m and is positioned on Southbank among the restaurant and cultural hub.
Developed by Mirvac in 2005, the complex is one of just seven office buildings in Southbank – Brisbane’s most tightly held office market. Major tenants include IAG and Ausenco Services.
“By measure of office fundamentals, the asset is one of the best buildings in Brisbane. Moreover, we’d argue that Grey St is among the top three streets in Brisbane for office buildings, offering amenity which is among the best in our city,” Marquette managing director Toby Lewis said.
Mr Lewis noted that Southbank had a minimal office vacancy rate, entailing just 1-and-a-half floors at 189 Grey which were expected to be leased in the short term.
Despite higher rates hitting the market Mr Lewis said there were still opportunities.
“We remain cautious but acquisitive and feel that the significant volatility across markets augers well for commercial property,” he said.
“We will keep our assumptions around interest rates and cap rates conservative but feel next year will be a big bounce back for our industry,” he said.
