Square Tower leads Brisbane leasing resurgence
Brisbane’s office leasing market has fired into life in the middle of the year with financial services groups striking deals to move and the contest to build a new Suncorp headquarters close to being decided.
In one of the largest plays, QSuper and Charter Hall have struck a 15-year lease on the existing Brisbane Square Tower.
The group, Queensland’s largest super fund, has committed to leasing 17,000sqm from 2022, at the iconic site at the apex of Queen Street Mall.
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The site overlooks the Brisbane River and Southbank in the core of Brisbane CBD’s North Quarter Precinct and sits adjacent to the new Queens Wharf entertainment precinct.
QSuper is slated to shift to new headquarters in 2022, consolidating its four Brisbane locations, including Central Plaza 2 and 3 in Eagle St, a Member Centre on George Street and service operations at Nundah, into the building.
The revitalisation of George Street has seen the riverfront precinct become a premium location, housing corporate and government agency tenants including Santos, Suncorp, Brisbane City Council, Shell, Telstra and government and professional services firms.
Charter Hall chief executive David Harrison welcome the super fund to the group’s portfolio.
“Following recent office tower acquisitions in Brisbane’s CBD totalling approximately $450 million, we are a committed long-term investor in Queensland with $4.5 billion of investments across office, industrial and retail property sectors,” Harrison says.
Also, Westpac’s search for 7000sqm of space appears to have landed on another prominent site, with GPT’s Riverside Centre on Eagle Street favoured to pick up the requirement. An original shortlist of four prospective sites — which also included Charter Hall’s 175 Eagle St, the Dexus tower at 480 Queen St and the Shayher Group’s 300 George St — was whittled down to two contenders last month before GPT was tapped.
Meanwhile, Mirvac Group and Charter Hall are awaiting Suncorp’s decision on where it will shift its headquarters in what is billed as the leasing deal of the decade as the developers compete to provide up to 40,000sqm of office space.
Mirvac has proposed a unique “city within a building” at 80 Ann St as it vies with a rival consortium comprised of the Investa Commercial Property Fund and Charter Hall to develop the bank’s new headquarters.
Mirvac has won interest for a stake in its proposed $800 million office tower from British group M&G Real Estate, while the rival consortium has funding capacity of its own.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
