Quintessential buys $45m Brisbane office from Stockland
Unlisted property manager Quintessential Equity will pay $45.25 million for a suburban Brisbane office building as it looks to ramp up its Queensland market exposure and Stockland, the seller, reduces its office holdings.
Quintessential has purchased Garden Square, a fully leased seven-level office property of 16,650sqm in Mount Gravatt.
The Queensland government is the anchor tenant along with the National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank.
Quintessential Equity chief executive Shane Quinn says the acquisition of Garden Square and the company’s expansion into Queensland is well-timed despite ongoing concerns over the state’s future economic performance.
“It is a region we have been watching closely over the last number of years and we believe Garden Square is a prime commercial office asset with plenty of scope for further improvement and development,” he says.
Our decision to sell Garden Square reflects our strategy to selectively down-weight our exposure to office at this point in the property cycle
“In order to further bolster the property’s performance, we plan to commit capital expenditure to the property in order to improve the building’s energy efficiency and simultaneously improve the tenant experience.
“With surplus land also available on-site, we have the option to expand and develop the property’s offering in the future to provide different accommodation solutions tailored to the specific needs of prospective tenants.”
Stockland’s chief executive, commercial property, John Schroder says there is a company-wide policy to reduce office market investments.
The company will report its full-year profit result on Wednesday, and analysts tip that its earnings per share should have grown by 7.1% in 2016.
“Our decision to sell Garden Square reflects our strategy to selectively down-weight our exposure to office at this point in the property cycle, enabling us to recycle the capital into other accretive opportunities,” he says.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
