Charter Hall secures 10-year pre-commitment from Telstra at 60 King William Street

Charter Hall Group (Charter Hall or the Group) today announced that it has secured a pre-commitment from Telstra at its $450 million 60 King William Street development in the Adelaide CBD.

The 10-year agreement builds on Charter Hall’s long-term tenant customer relationship with Telstra, including its global headquarters at 242 Exhibition Street in Melbourne and at 275 George Street and 69 Ann Street in Brisbane.

Telstra will relocate its Adelaide workforce to the new PCA Premium Grade office space once completed in 2023. Joining Federal Government Agency Services Australia at 60 King William Street, Telstra will occupy approximately 6,000 square metres (sqm) of space across two levels, featuring a mix of collaboration zones, office meeting room space and an open-air meeting space.

Charter Hall Office CEO, Carmel Hourigan, said, “We are pleased to be further extending our deep relationship with Telstra and welcoming their team to 60 King William Street, which is set to raise the bar for innovative and sustainable workplaces in South Australia. This agreement brings Telstra’s total leased space with us to more than 130,000sqm across Australia, underpinning the strength of our partnership and reflecting Charter Hall’s ability to deliver high quality, technology enabled buildings to meet the needs of Telstra’s business.

“60 King William Street will offer a vibrant meeting place for tenant customers, visitors and the broader community alike, with a range of food and beverage options, a ground floor retail precinct and a variety of amenities that contribute to the fabric of Adelaide’s CBD. Importantly, upon completion the building will be net zero emissions in operation, which demonstrates our commitment to making smart, sustainable investments in line with the expectations of our tenant customers and investors.”

Telstra Property Transaction Principal, Doug Hall, said, “This will be an opportunity for Telstra to put into place an office of the future, based on hybrid and flexible working and with spaces for true collaboration and team interaction. Our new Adelaide office will take the best parts of our other office environments, including desks that our people can book on demand, and introduce new ways of working including larger and more open collaboration and meeting spaces, where teams can come together in a modern and flexible environment.

“Telstra has undertaken extensive consultation with its people over the past 18 months about workplaces of the future and hybrid working, and we’re now using this feedback to help finalise designs for our Adelaide office. Our new Adelaide office will showcase the future of hybrid work, where our people can come together for training, collaboration, and connection rather than the more traditional model of 9 to 5 deskwork.”

Charter Hall Managing Director and Group CEO, David Harrison, said, “Our growing partnership with Telstra at 60 King William Street continues our strategic alignment and expansion of extensive cross-sector relationship with major customers across our portfolio. Having incubated this project from site acquisition to planning approvals and securing the initial 28,500 sqm commitment from Services Australia, we continue to demonstrate our ability to harness the power of our platform to deliver a world class development for our fund partners, CPOF, PFA and VFMC as ownership partners.”

60 King William Street is a mixed-use development designed to offer building users a modern, innovative and sustainable workplace and amenity that sets a new benchmark in Adelaide across 39,000sqm of office space.

Targeting a 6 star Green Star rating, 5 star NABERS Energy Rating and WELL Platinum certification, the building will be enabled for net zero emissions in operations, integrating an all-electric mechanical central plant and climate friendly refrigerant, and will be powered by 100% renewable energy.

60 King William Street will offer a range of innovative features, which will be technology-enabled throughout with real-time data. Building users will also benefit from a touchless secure entrance, touchless bathroom amenities, a wellness centre, electric vehicle charging, a business hub, efficient 3,000sqm floor plates, and the first sky lobby in Adelaide. Ground level retail space will connect from King William Street through a central mall to James Place.

Construction at 60 King William Street began in March 2021 and is scheduled to reach practical completion in mid-2023. Charter Hall has appointed Built as its construction delivery partner for the project. More than 1,500 local jobs will be created during the development delivery phase.

Telstra was advised by Michael Greene of JLL.

Charter Hall was advised by Tom Budarick of JLL and Andrew Bahr of CBRE.