TOWER TITLES BUYBACK BID

Title owners in The Rocket persuaded to cash in their chips as Robina Projects Australia seeks to sell the 16-level premium office building as a single property

THE owner of Robina’s premier office tower is pulling out its chequebook after belatedly deciding that taking the stratatitling route was not a stellar idea.

Robina Projects Australia is buying back titles in the building so it can sell the 16-level The Rocket as one property.

Its decision has come after offering the building in “bits” failed to drive sales into the strata-sphere.

Six buyers who bought into what was once described as one of the finest office buildings in Australia have been persuaded to cash in their chips.

They, along with others, bought into the “green” and smart tower between 2007 and 2010.

It seems the “others”, their confidence shattered by the GFC, may have backed away from their purchases.

A new sales campaign late last year offering 35 of The Rocket’s remaining 51 titles failed to find new buyers.

The Robina Land-owned Robina Projects, in the wake of the GFC coming out of left field in 2008, must have been regretting its timing in building The Rocket.

Seven years on, and with the tower almost fully let, it’s seeking a complete exit and has launched a hunt for offers for the “re-amalgamated” building.

The group appears to be hoping to achieve at least $80 million, a figure which is a long way short of the early marketing blurb, which described the tower as a $110 million project.

There’s no question that the GFC had a major impact on Robina Project’s strata sell-off ambitions at The Rocket.

Not only did it scare stratatitle buyers, but it also torpedoed the leasing market – there’s not much point in an investor buying an office suite if there’s no tenant. When The Rocket was completed in late 2009, Gold Coast office vacancy rates were climbing toward 20 per cent and yields were easing.

There’s been a remarkable turnaround since then, particularly at Robina, where only 4.6 per cent of space is vacant, and specifically at The Rocket.

The fact that the tower is nearly fully let appears to have attracted inquiries.

That’s stimulated Robina Projects, which banked $5 million or so from its strata sales, into strata buyback mode.

It’s unclear what sort of premium it’s paying for the six titles or whether all or only some of the owners are in fact getting more than they paid.

Those owners could be waiting months to get their cheques – it appears some putand-call deals might have been done and that they have a January expiry date.