US giant fund manager Starwood buys Zenith Chatswood for $440 million
Centuria and BlackRock sold their jointly-owned Zenith office towers in Chatswood to US giant fund manager Starwood.
It sold for $438.2 million, a record price for an office building outside of the Sydney CBD.
The Connecticut based Starwood Capital made the acquisition with New South Wales' Arrow Capital Partners.
Knight Frank’s Tyler Talbot and Ben Schubert, in conjunction with CBRE’s Michael Andrews and Scott Gray-Spencer, brokered the deal.
The deal was struck at a yield in the range of 6 percent and 6.5 percent.
Early last year, Starwood Capital, Arrow Property Investments and Pindan Capital completed a $160 million purchase of the seven-level, 17,792 sqm St Leonards building at 29-57 Christie Street.
The Zenith is A-Grade office complex comprising twin 21 level towers and basement parking.
The 821 Pacific Highway office building, 12 kms North of Sydney CBD property, attracted 10 offers after it was listed earlier this year with $400 million price expectations.
Set on a 7,990 sqm site, it has a net lettable area of 44,102 sqm, with 785 parking spaces.
Allen's advised on the sale of two office buildings with lead partner Victoria Holthouse.
In 2016, Allens had advised BlackRock and Centuria on their joint acquisition.
"Having previously advised on the acquisition of The Zenith in 2016, we were delighted to again assist BlackRock and Centuria on the asset's sale," she said.
Centuria’s Head of Real Estate and Funds Management, Jason Huljich said, the sale price was "an outstanding result," reflecting the general strength of the market and Centuria and BlackRock's asset management strategy in enhancing the yield on the property.
Mr Huljich said income returns from the Centuria Zenith Fund have been excellent, "on average 7.7% p.a., which is very attractive in the current low interest rate environment.”
“The strong sale price achieved from The Zenith offers more proof of our ability to identify opportunities in strengthening markets, which allows us to implement our active asset management strategy to make our properties more attractive workplaces for both our existing and prospective tenants.”
“In the time we have owned The Zenith with BlackRock, our asset management teams have worked extremely hard on the property – they have closed 58 leasing deals to take the occupancy to 100% and increase the WALE from 2.5 to 4.3 years.”
“The success of our active management strategy is clear in the significantly increased rents.
"When we bought The Zenith in 2016, market rents were on average $490 per sqm net p.a. and we have recently completed a deal at $685 per sqm net p.a., which is the highest rate ever recorded in Chatswood. This is because tenants recognise the quality of the property and its position as the premier building in its market," he concluded.
