Marquette buys ex-state government office
Marquette Property has snapped up its fifth Brisbane CBD office for a steep discount on what the vendor paid eight years ago.
Mineral House at 41 George St is believed to be costing c$120 million.
Vendor, the Al Rajhi Group backed Basil Property Trust, managed by Singapore’s AEP Investment Management, outlaid $159.8m – an 8.7 per cent yield.
That seller was the Queensland government, which moved out last month.
The deal comes a year since Basil, which had a $250m mandate, sold an Adelaide office – 45 Pirie St – to Pep Rocca’s Curated Capital for c$75m, a discount on the $105m it paid in 2017.
Like 41 George St, that asset was facing a major vacancy.
A third Basil property, StarHub Green, in Singapore, with two offices, was sold in late 2021 for $300m.
AEP acquired that one for S$260m in 2015.
41 George Street
Marquette, it is expected, will convert the 1970s, 27 storey, 29,660 square metre state government built George St office into student accommodation – an option, along with a hotel, also marketed when Basil bought the asset in 2016 (the property is opposite Brisbane’s largest project – the $3 billion Queen’s Wharf).
The site spreads 2811 sqm at the north east corner of Margaret St.
Elsewhere in the Queensland capital it owns 12 Creek St (or the Blue Tower) and 10 Eagle St (aka, the Gold Tower), both bought from Dexus, 288 Edward St and 130 Queen St.
CBRE’s Bruce Baker and Peter Chapple with JLL’s Seb Turnbull and Paul Noonan listed 41 George St in late 2022.
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