Japanese Fortune Global 500 telco NTT Group pays $72m for Carlton office
Australian Unity has banked $72 million selling a high-quality Carlton office majority tenanted to the state government’s Environment Protection Authority.
Realmont Property Partners, on behalf of Japanese Fortune Global 500 telco NTT Group (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation) picked up 200 Victoria Street on a 4.92 per cent yield.
The off-market deal for the seven storey building was negotiated by Colliers International’s Trent Preece, Anna Cavar, John Marasco and Stephanie Kitchen.
Also occupied by Trinity College, a division of University of Melbourne, the office is across the road from the Melbourne CBD, specifically, Ansett’s former headquarters at 501 Swanston Street (which is now owned by PDG Corporation).
A 31-level residential tower developed by Grocon, identified with an 85-metre tall portrait of aboriginal leader William Barak, is two holdings east of 200 Victoria Street.
Queen Victoria Market and the State Library train station, proposed as part of the $11 billion Metro Tunnel project, are two blocks away.
Office sells 20 per cent over July, 2019, book value
Australian Unity Diversified Property Fund, an unlisted trust managed by Australian Unity Property, paid $42.3 million for the Carlton office in July, 2014.
The vendor at the time, Impact Investment Group, spent $33.55 million on it seven months earlier.
Converted by Drapac in 2013 from a derelict brewery laboratory, the building contains 7490 square metres of A-grade office area, 422 sqm of ground floor retail space split as three tenancies, and eight car parks.
It also carries a 6-star Green Star Office Design and As Built rating.
Last July, Australian Unity had 200 Victoria Street independently valued at $59 million.
Following an expected May settlement, the fund will pay a special distribution to investors.
Mr Preece said the location, near the Biomedical precinct, University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, offers significant growth potential.
“The sale is an outstanding outcome for both vendor and purchaser given the current COVID-19 climate and demonstrates the enormous confidence in the Melbourne office market,” the broker added.
Also working to exchange the property was Australian Unity fund manager Nikki Panagopoulos and from Realmont, which is headquartered in Sydney, Will Doherty and Jason Ferris.
