Dexus, Marquette to repurpose office tower at last
Marquette Properties has called in Dexus to almost fully fund – and pay for a repurpose – of a Brisbane office bought in March for a major discount.
The 27 level building, also known as Mineral House, 41 George Street, traded for $123 million.
A 1200 bed student accommodation asset is planned for the shell.
Upon completion, it should be worth c$500m, the parties said.
Bruce Baker from CBRE, Navigator Property Group’s Tom Phipps with JLL’s Paul Noonan and Seb Turnbull, were the agents – it was listed for 15 months as demand for offices from both investors and tenants waned.
The vendor was Al Rajhi Group backed Basil Property Group, managed by AEP Investment Management, which paid the state government – until recently a major tenant – $159.8m nearly nine years ago.
Old idea reborn
Developed in the 1970s, 41 George St contains 29,660 square metres on a 2811 sqm site at the north east corner of Margaret.
Basil also bought it following a campaign spruiking the tower’s potential to be repurposed with residential (story continues below).
Dexus is buying a 95pc stake via its Dexus Real Estate Partnership.
Marquette is marketing it as its second adaptive building reuse.
Work will begin immediately and end in 2026.
“Griffith University’s recent acquisition of the Treasury Building for a new CBD campus enhances a tertiary mix that already includes UQ Brisbane City, QUT’s Gardens Point campus and CQ University,” Marquette managing director, Toby Lewis, said.
Student accommodation supply is low while demand is high, he added.
“Education is the third largest export in Australia broadly and the largest within Brisbane,” according to the executive.
“The introduction of 1200 beds represents a significant boost to supply, representing the equivalent of 12 x 50 two bed-apartment blocks”.
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