Brisbane’ ‘wedding cake’ building set to attract $220m
A client of UBS Asset Management is preparing to strike Brisbane’s next major office deal and could pay about $220 million for the city’s former “wedding cake” building.
The tower, at 310 Ann St, was overhauled by Cornerstone Properties after it bought the building for FA Pidgeon & Son for $63 million in 2012.
The tower, now being sold by CBRE and JLL, once housed Suncorp and has been transformed into one of the city’s best assets.
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The fully refurbished A-grade building sits on an elevated site, with views across the CBD. Its 18,360sq m of space is designed around a central core to maximise natural light.
The bank left in 2015 and Cornerstone Properties transformed it from a B-grade tower. The building was reshaped and now includes three pod extensions to stretch each floor. It secured tenants including Allianz Worldwide Partners and the Queensland government. Cornerstone has a long pedigree in investing and developing office investment properties and continues to manage some buildings it has sold.
The unit of UBS has been an active trader and last year sold a Pyrmont office building to Boston-based investment manager AEW Capital Management for $143m in one of the largest plays in Sydney’s fringe market.
The US group bought the complex at 19 Harris St from the private client of UBS Asset Management, which had picked it up for $92 million in 2015.
The parties and agents declined to comment yesterday.
Other Brisbane sites have also been changing hands.
Centuria has bought 381 Macarthur Avenue, Northshore Hamilton, for $19.74 million for its unlisted Diversified Property Fund. The building, Brisbane’s BTP Northshore office precinct, is a three-level, A-grade office complex developed by Alceon Graystone in April last year. The 2847sq m property will generate an initial yield of 7% and was sold via Sam Biggins of Colliers International.
Centuria expects the building will continue to benefit from Brisbane’s improving office market, which property head Jason Huljich said had seen “yield compression, vacancy rates at five-year lows, and rising demand”.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
