Charter Hall to add Geoscience Australia headquarters in Symonston, ACT to its Canberra property portfolio

Sources have confirmed property investment group Charter Hall will purchase the property at 101 Jerrabomberra Avenue in a deal worth more than $370 million.

The building, leased to Australia's pre-eminent geoscientific research organisation, was listed for sale in February by investment manager Real I.S. Australia, with a price guide upwards of $360 million. The German firm purchased the 16-hectare site in 2007 for $234 million.

Real I.S. and Charter Hall declined to comment on the transaction.

The sale is likely to take several months to complete due the complex nature of the deal.

Taken to market by Colliers and JLL, the property was offered for sale either by 100 per cent interest in the crown leasehold or 100 per cent of the units in the trust. Expressions of interest closed in May.

Built in 1997, the property features more than 32,000 square metres of net lettable area and underwent a significant refurbishment in 2019.

The asset, fully leased to Geoscience until 2032, has an annual net passing income of $26.8 million.

Real I.S. Australia listed another Canberra asset for sale last week, taking the ATO headquarters in Civic to market with commercial agencies Cushman and Wakefield and Knight Frank.

The property at 21 Genge Street is also expected to fetch a sale price in the high-$300 million range.

Both properties are poised to eclipse Canberra's commercial property record, set in 2021 when Charter Hall purchased 50 Marcus Clarke Street for $335 million.

The firm acquired the office block in a joint venture agreement with Singapore-based investment company GIC.

Before the year was out, Charter Hall also acquired 24 Wormald Street, Symonston, leased to the Attorney-General's Department, for $36 million and the ActewAGL building in Civic for $76 million.

Canberra's commercial office sales totalled $1.59 billion in 2021, according to research by Knight Frank.

It marked a record year of transactions and equated to more than triple the historical annual average of around $500 million.

Knight Frank's quarterly office market report forecast continued investment activity in Canberra in 2022.

"With office returns currently outperforming other major CBDs and low vacancy helping to sustain rental growth, the occupier market offers long-term growth upside and this will continue to play out with strong capital inflows and further yield compression," the report stated.

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