Taiwan developer Shayher Group takes Brisbane’s Q&A Centre

The sale of the building – which stands out as a mixed-use property sporting both luxury retailers and office space sold at a premium – takes the sales tally of Brisbane towers past the $2 billion mark this year.

Investors are backing premium city retail sites where sales remain strong and office buyers are targeting Brisbane as rents and capital values rise.

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Shayher emerged from a pack of seven short-listed bidders to snare the asset from property heavyweight QIC Global Real Estate.

The purchase, tipped by The Australian, sees the Taiwanese developer lift its exposure to Brisbane, as it is undertaking the city’s $1 billion Brisbane Quarter project.

The company in August also won the rights to redevelop another strategic holding in the city, the Bulimba Barracks site, knocking out local contenders with a multimillion-dollar bid.

It has separately been buying up new sites including in Sydney, where it bought a twin-building office complex in the inner western suburb of Ashfield for about $63 million.

QIC Global Real Estate managing director Michael O’Brien confirmed the sale of Q&A Centre, saying the campaign received extremely strong interest from local and offshore bidders.

QIC’s offer of the landmark property between Queen Street Mall, Albert Street Mall and Elizabeth St came after it sold 80 Collins St in Melbourne to Dexus for almost $1.5 billion, and offloaded stake in a $250m Noosa centre.

“This transaction follows the sale of Noosa Civic Shopping Centre in Queensland last month, as well as the highly successful sales of 80 Collins Street in Melbourne in May 2019, and MLC Centre in Sydney in 2017, with Q&A Centre the last predominantly office asset remaining in the Fund,” he said.

QIC fund manager Briar Dowsett notes the “buoyant” commercial market conditions and says the sale was struck “significantly” above the September book value.

The QIC Property Fund has been running for more than two decades and is weighted to dominant super regional and major regional town centres.

The Q&A Centre has been held by QIC since 1994 and was the last predominantly office asset remaining in the fund.

The complex combines two modern commercial towers connected by Albert Lane, while the retail aspect makes up about half the income.

The property comprises a total of 31,708sqm incorporating 7283sqm of retail and 24,425sq m office spread across a three-level podium and two towers with basement parking for 207 bays.

The tower at 141 Queen St, once the T&G Building, is a 25-storey, 88m office building with a retail arcade at street level and five levels of basement carparking. It was completed in 1969. The tower at 140 Elizabeth St is an 11-storey office building.

JLL’s Seb Turnbull, Jacob Swan and Luke Billiau and Colliers International’s Lachlan MacGillivray, Don McKenzie and Jason Lynch handled the deal.

The property is 79% leased with a short weighted lease term of 2.7 years by income, with major tenants including the federal government, National Australia Bank, Citibank, Dimension Data, Secure Parking, JB Hi-Fi, Vodafone and Ramsay Health Care.

This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.