Charter Hall secures 30,000sqm of pre leases

Charter Hall Group (Charter Hall or the Group) today confirmed that its $3.5 billion wholesale fund Charter Hall Prime Office Fund (CPOF) has secured 30,000sqm of leasing pre commitments (4 major pre leases inclusive of one at Heads of Agreement stage) at the $600 million Wesley Place development, located at 130 Lonsdale Street in Melbourne’s CBD.

The Group made the announcement at a formal ceremony today, marking the commencement of construction announced by the Right Hon. Lord Mayor Cr. Doyle.

The Wesley Place project will be constructed by Lendlease under a fixed price contract, and will comprise a new technology enabled Premium-Grade tower with 58,000 square meters of vertical campus style office and premium retail space across 35 floors. One of the design features central to the building’s sense of community is its four levels of cascading rooftop terraces and a revitalised urban realm comprising a retail and alfresco dining experience, along with a new urban park and activated community space.

TelstraSuper, Australia’s largest corporate superannuation fund and Cbus Super, one of Australia’s largest industry super funds, will locate their head offices at the address with Wesley Mission Victoria and Uniting Church in Australia also committing to long term leases. The 30,000sqm of office leases secured at Wesley Place represent approximately 50% of forecast income for the asset.

CPOF Fund Manager Matthew Brown said:

“We are proud to partner with the Uniting Church in Australia, Melbourne City Council and the Victorian Government who share our vision in the redevelopment of this iconic site. We see this investment as an exciting opportunity to create not just another landmark office tower but to create a work place that offers our tenant customers an unsurpassed level of both business and lifestyle amenity.

“Securing 50% of forecast income for the asset, in line with commencement of construction, enhances CPOF’s portfolio quality and total return metrics and delivers the funds investors a coveted new Premium-Grade office asset in the tightly held core Melbourne CBD precinct,” Mr Brown said.

One of the most tightly held precincts in Melbourne’s CBD, the site located at Wesley Upper Lonsdale is in the heart of Melbourne’s entertainment and cultural precinct and is amongst some of the city’s best restaurants and bars and Melbourne’s famous Princess and Her Majesty’s Theatres.

Charter Hall’s Office CEO, Adrian Taylor said: “The depth of our internal development capabilities means that we are able to partner with our tenant customers to deliver great workspace experiences as well as create institutional quality investment opportunities in the office sector, adding significant value and enhanced income yield and total returns for our managed funds.”

The building has been designed to achieve a 5 Star Green Star rating, a 5 Star NABERS rating along with a Gold WELL rating (core and shell).

Charter Hall’s Head of Office Development, Andrew Borger, originated the project and secured the site and together with Office Development Head of Delivery Simon Stockfeld and the broader development and asset management team, have worked tirelessly through design development and planning approvals, to present this Premium-Grade office opportunity to Melbourne’s major office space users. According to Mr Borger, “the high calibre of organisations that have committed to the project is a testimony to its quality, amenity and workspace environment for their people. We look forward to delivering another fantastic office investment for our funds investors, which caters for the ever increasing technological and workspace quality demands of our high quality tenant customers.”

The Uniting Church in Australia Synod of Victoria and Tasmania Moderator, Reverend Sharon Hollis said a key feature of the unique partnership with Charter Hall was the preservation of the Wesley Church and integration into the revitalised public realm.

“When the UCA envisaged this project we foresaw the chance to realise new opportunities for the church to engage in city life through the interaction of meeting places, arts and educational venues as well as providing an important and significant place of worship.

“We would like to acknowledge the important partnership values and approach brought to the project by Charter Hall who have worked closely with the UCA in developing the final details of this momentous project,” Reverend Hollis added.

The building has been designed to achieve a 5 Star Green Star rating, a 5 Star NABERS rating along with a Gold WELL rating (core and shell).