Darwin office building sets price record
Commercial confidence in the Darwin CBD has been given a huge boost with the $60 million sale of Jacana House — the most energy efficient building in the Territory.
Located on Woods St, the transaction was completed recently, with ownership transferring to Queensland property group, Sentinel.
The building had been owned by Jamie Cooper, 53, who bought it off Gwelo, the original builders and developers for $58.5 million in 2011.
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The sale beats that record, fetching a price of $60.75 million.
It is Sentinel’s second acquisition in Darwin.
In December last year, Sentinel paid $34 million for the CasCom Centre, a six-building business park property at Casuarina.
Cooper, who has also invested heavily in the development of the $100 million Darwin Corporate Park and the Berrimah Business Park on the Stuart Hwy, says the sale was all about timing.
Jacana House is a high quality addition to the company’s growing office portfolio given it is one of the top two commercial office buildings in Darwin
“I just want to do other things,” he says.
“I’ve got Darwin Corporate Park which is quite a substantial investment and I just want to complete the development of that going forward and really I didn’t have the capital to do both.”
He says the sale has several benefits.
“They bring money in from out of the state and it also frees up my capital to go and reinvest in other areas as well.”
Sentinel managing director, Warren Ebert, says the company has identified Darwin as a strategic growth market and has now invested close to $100 million in commercial office assets in the region in the past six months.
“Jacana House is a high quality addition to the company’s growing office portfolio given it is one of the top two commercial office buildings in Darwin and is fully leased to Federal Government and international tenants,” he says.
“We strongly believe that now is the time to be investing in Darwin due to its solid fundamentals, geographic advantages, rising public and private investment, and rapidly evolving and diversified economy.”
Jacana House also has a 5.5 Green Star rating, which puts it in the Australian excellence category.
This article from NT News was originally published as “Record price for Darwin office building”.
