School beats developers to prime Brisbane site
An entity associated with Queensford College has beaten high rise developers to a prime property in the city’s North Quarter.
The private educator paid $13.2 million for 33 Herschel Street – a three level, 1749 square metre office, offered mid-last year with optional vacant possession.
Vendor, Asia-backed developer, Capricorn Asset Management, paid $9.25m in 2020; fully leased, it earned annual rent of $597,800.
The development upside however was clear, the 911 sqm holding neighbouring a 74 storey Meriton Suites complex, in an area with more than $10b of infrastructure investment including the future Roma Street Station (Cross River Rail), Queens Wharf casino and Brisbane Live multi-purpose arena.
Prior to listing, Capricorn submitted plans for a 44 storey, 18,488 sqm office utilising the 20.1 metre frontage with a five level podium. The skyscraper would be just 11.5m wide, rising to the 274m height limit, while the basement would contain 72 car parks (story continues below).
It is unclear whether Queensford will proceed with this plan, perhaps forming a joint venture partnership to occupy a chunk of a larger tower also with student accommodation or a hotel – all allowed with the zoning.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Andrew Gard and Michael Gard were the agents; the result reflects a 4.47 per cent yield.
The property is one of only three sub-$20m Brisbane CBD buildings to trade in the past 12 months, they said.
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