Lend Lease secure two cornerstone tenants for $6 billion Barangaroo South tower

Lend Lease will begin its largest commercial tower in its $6 billion Sydney's Barangaroo South project with a pre-commitment from two cornerstone tenants -  PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia and HSBC Bank Australia. 

In a statement to the ASX, Lend Lease said it should be as an anchor tenant of Tower 1, PwC has entered into an agreement to take 26,500 square metres or  12 floors in the 49-storey building. HSBC has signed heads of term for the bank to take 8,000 square metres of space or 3.5 floors in the building.

Lend Lease will commence the development and funding of 100% of the building, known as Tower 1 of International Towers Sydney, via existing capital sources. It intends to introduce co-investors into Tower 1 at an appropriate time in the future.

Lend Lease Group chief executive, Steve McCann, said "prior to today’s announcement, we were already ahead of where we expected to be at this stage of the evolution of the Barangaroo South precinct, with two towers 77% leased and under construction, and the first two apartment buildings sold".

As part of its announcement, the listed property group said it had entered into an agreement to reduce its co- investment in Lend Lease International Towers Sydney Trust (LLITST) from 25% to 15% via a sale to international pension fund APG. 

Following completion of the sale of the 10 per cent interest, Lend Lease’s equity commitment to LLITST will reduce from $500 million to $300 million.