This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
PERTH’S 45 St Georges Terrace is now fully occupied after the signature of specialist financial consultancy firm Smooth Retirement completed a releasing and renewal program across the 10,000 sqm building.
Redhill Partners, in conjunction with leasing agents CBRE and Sheffield, have leased and renewed approximately 5,000 sqm in the past six months.
Smooth Retirement’s 468 sqm, level nine tenancy represented the final vacancy in the B-grade building. Since acquiring the asset in 2018, Redhill Partners has increased the building’s weighted average lease expiry from approximately three years to five years and delivered one of the only fully leased B-grade office assets in the Perth market.
Its newest tenant is relocating from a nearby building and signed a long-term lease at a rental ranging between $450 and $495 per sqm.
Cyber safety specialist Family Zone committed to a 1,090 sqm speculative fit-out in the building earlier in the year.
“A strategic and tenant-focused repositioning strategy has paid dividends for us, with occupancy now at 100% and a five-year WALE providing stable returns to our investors,” Redhill Partners’ investment manager Daniel Johnston said.
Smooth Retirement secured this opportunity after a lengthy negotiation and was attracted by the tenancy’s new fit-out, which matched the firm’s needs, and surrounding amenity, including Old Treasury and Allendale food court.
CBRE’s James Phelan said the leasing of 45 St Georges Terrace over the past 12 months has “been a major success story and demonstrates what can be achieved when a strategic and well-informed leasing strategy is implemented”.
Perth’s office occupancy heading into May was impacted by the snap lockdown, but according to the Property Council had risen from 65% to 71% throughout March – the highest rate of the major capital cities – although negative net absorption of 2,600 sqm was recorded in the CBD during the March quarter as its vacancy rate rose to 20.2%.
Investment activity has been gaining momentum in Perth’s CBD office market, and major deals have been struck including AMP Capital Diversified Property Fund offloading the 140 St Georges Terrace office tower and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC took a 25% interest in the future Chevron headquarters on the Swan River earlier this year in a deal believed to have come in at about $220 million.
