Extra ‘icing’ helps sweeten appeal
IT HAS risen from an empty, unleaseable office tower to become a shining beacon for the Brisbane CBD office market.
Cornerstone Properties’ 310 Ann St has undergone a remarkable resurrection since Suncorp vacated the 18-level building three years ago.
Stripped to its bare concrete shell – cutting it to fit floor-to-ceiling windows – the “wedding cake" building of old is almost unrecognisable and approaching full occupancy again.
JLL’s Queensland head of office leasing Adam Barrett said the tower effectively had been rebuilt, lifting it from an outdated, unleaseable low Bgrade building to a state-ofthe-art, desirable A-grade asset.
“No expense has been spared,” he said.
The landmark tower also has been reshaped with three pod extensions stretching up each floor, increasing its net lettable area from 16,000sq m to 18,500sq m.
In recently finalised deals, two major tenants have leased more than 15,000sq m in the upgraded tower.
Allianz Worldwide partners has committed to 8000sq m on levels 12 to 18 and the State Government has taken more than 7000sq m across levels 4 to 9.
Leasing rates in the “as new” 310 Ann St are marketed at $650-$695/sq m gross.
Mr Barrett, who negotiated the deals, said the spectacular rise of 310 Ann St was a positive sign for the CBD office market, which has faced challenging times and high vacancy.
He said the competitive nature of the market and a flight to quality had led to landlords investing capital in their assets to make them more appealing to tenants. As a result, there had been a dramatic reduction in the amount of CBD office stock deemed “redundant” – referring to space vacant for 18 months or more.
“We used to have 100,000sq m of redundant stock across the market but in the last 12 months we’ve seen that half,” Mr Barrett said.
“A lot of stock that has been unleaseable for some time, in some cases up to three years, is filling up again after owners have spent the money to bring them up to today’s standards.”
But he said while most of the assets had only undergone internal refurbishments, the owner of 310 Ann St “went that extra level” – stripping it completely to its bare concrete shell and renewing everything inside and out.
“They spared no expense with an extensive and innovative rebuild,” Mr Barrett said.
The tower changed hands in late 2011 in a $63 million deal. It was purchased by an entity linked to Cornerstone Properties’ Liz Pidgeon on behalf of FA Pidgeon & Son, which developed the building for Suncorp in 1992.