Charter Hall Secure Commonwealth Government to Perth Office Development
19/08/2008
Charter Hall Group (CHC), one of Australia's leading property fund managers, is pleased to announce the Commonwealth Government will lease 5,300m2 of commercial office space at ONE30 Stirling Street in the Perth CBD, owned by the Group's flagship wholesale office fund, Core Plus Office Fund (CPOF).
Medicare Australia will consolidate its West Australian administrative operations at ONE30 Stirling leasing 5,300m2 over 2 levels. Medicare Australia is currently located on St Georges Terrace, highlighting further demand for CBD tenants to relocate to fringe CBD projects benefiting from large efficient floor plates, lower occupancy costs and ecological sustainable design (ESD) standards required from both government and corporate tenants.
ONE30 Street comprises 4 levels of commercial office space over 11,500m2, with 740m2 of associated retail space and is being developed by Charter Hall's $1.5 billion CPOF with development management services provided by the Group's in-house development team. In accordance with Charter Hall's ESD policy, balance®, the Group will target a 4.5 star Nabers rating and a 4 star Green Star Rating adopting the latest in ecological sustainable design including chilled beam air-conditioning to greatly reduce energy consumption.
The commitment by Medicare Australia along with the commitment from the Police and Nurses Credit Society June 2008, brings the pre-leasing of the office component to 80% with the remaining space "generating strong tenant interest" according to Charter Hall's Leasing Director, Emil Joubert.
CPOF Fund Manager Chris Forbes said: "The high level of commitment to this speculative project 9 months from completion reinforces the Group's decision to target the potential of city fringe locations in strong office markets, something that has been of great benefit in both Sydney and Perth for Charter Hall funds".
Joint leasing agents Savills and JLL "have found tenants have been attracted by the quality of the development, the availability of large floor plates (in excess of 2,700m2 each), abundant parking and the significantly lower gross occupancy costs when compared to the Perth CBD" according to Savills Leasing Director, Graham Postma.
CPOF has now pre-leased over 90% of new projects within its $1.5 billion portfolio of 17 commercial properties geographically diversified throughout the major office markets of Australia, including major government and corporate tenants, such as Telstra, AMEX, St George Bank, BHP, Australian Industrial Relations Commission and Mercer.
Chris Forbes concluded that following the success of CPOF's enhanced strategy for 30% of its portfolio, the wholesale fund will continue to use Charter Halls' development expertise to deliver high quality CBD and CBD fringe office projects to optimise the total return from the portfolio.