Deals of the Week: 8 December 2017

Deals of the Week: 8 December 2017

SYDNEY: The NSW government has officially put the controversial Sirius apartment building at The Rocks on the market, after weathering nearly a year of public protests. After declining to heritage-list the public housing block for a second time in October, the tower could now make way for a brand new 85-apartment apartment tower with views of the Sydney harbour. Savills have been appointed to handle the sales campaign — The Australian Financial Review.

BRISBANE: Mirvac has agreed to buy two prime neighbouring Brisbane CBD sites from listed Singaporean developer Wee Hur for $79 million. The put and call option agreement covers a site of more than half a hectare between Turbot and Ann Streets adjacent to Brisbane City Hall and is contingent on approval from Wee Hur shareholders and Mirvac securing Suncorp as the tenant for a new office tower on the site — The Australian Financial Review.

GOLD COAST: Logistics developer LOGOS Property has teamed up with Swiss-based global fund manager Partners Group to acquire a 22.16 hectare site on the Gold Coast to develop into a new logistics facility. The industrial infill site at Captain Cook Drive in Arundel near Southport was owned by consumer goods giant Colgate-Palmolive and includes two large manufacturing facilities. It is understood to have sold for more than $20 million — The Australian Financial Review.

SYDNEY:  A Hong Kong real estate magnate and a fund manager hailing from the territory have signed two separate deals to buy Sydney office towers for more than $450 million. The two deals — by Hong Kong billionaire ­Francis Choi and fund manager CLSA with a Japanese partner respectively — show that HK players are stepping up buying even as some mainland Chinese groups retreat from aggressive bids for city towers. In one play, HK-based Mr Choi, one of China’s largest toy manufacturers, has purchased 1 Castlereagh St from US ­firm Blackstone for over $220m. Meanwhile, the unlisted Investa Commercial Property Fund has also been successful in Sydney, selling 130 Pitt Street for $229m to PA Realty, a joint venture between CLSA Real Estate and Mitsubishi Estate Co and, on an initial yield of 3.7 per cent, or a rate of about $21,000 per sqm — The Australian. 

MELBOURNE: Luxury retailer Versace is defying the retail gloom and opening its first Melbourne store, striking a deal with global real estate giant Pembroke to set up shop in the T&G Building on Collins Street. Versace will take 307sq m of space on a 10-year lease at a rate understood to be about $4000 a square metre with rent increases factored in. The deal was brokered by Zelman Ainsworth, CBRE head of Victorian retail leasing, who has brought other top-tier retailers to Collins Street, including Fendi, Cartier, Gucci, Berluti, Burberry, Mercedes Benz, Van Cleef & Arpels and The Hour Glass — The Australian. 

BRISBANE: Charter Hall’s Long Wale REIT has tapped the market for $94.1 million in order to buy the Virgin head office in Brisbane and refresh its balance sheet. The listed Charter Hall-run fund bought the building at 56 Edmondstone Road from the group’s wholesale arm, which had been marketing the Bowen Hills property via CBRE’s Bruce Baker and Flint Davidson and Savills’ Anthony Ott and Peter Chapple — The Australian. 

SOUTH AUSTRALIA: CBRE has finalised the sale of Mt Schanck – one of South Australia’s most iconic sheep and cattle stations – for more than $50 million, representing one of the state’s largest agribusiness deals. The Melbourne-based Evans family appointed CBRE Agribusiness’ Danny Thomas and Phil Schell to market the property in October this year – the first time it has been offered to the open market in history.