Australian real estate investment trust Dexus and Marquette Properties have acquired an office building in Brisbane, which they will repurpose into a A$500m (€310m) student accommodation facility.
The building at 41 George Street was reportedly acquired for A$120m, significantly below the A$160m that the vendor, Basil Property Trust – owned by Saudi Investment firm Al Rajhi Group and managed by Singapore-based AEP Investment Management – paid in 2016.
Dexus is making the acquisition via its opportunistic fund series, Dexus Real Estate Partnership (DREP), with 5% of the economic interest held by Marquette. Dexus and Marquette will be joint development managers.
Construction of the 27-storey tower 41 George Street asset, Brisbane is due to commence in 2024, with completion expected in 2026.
Dexus group CEO & MD, Ross Du Vernet, said: “This transaction demonstrates our ability to leverage the broad set of capabilities across our platform to create value for clients and investors.
“This includes special situations investing, office development and refurbishment, and the infrastructure team’s deep understanding of the Australian student accommodation sector.”
DREP fund manager Jason Howes said: “By leveraging the capabilities of the Dexus platform, we have created a compelling commercial proposition that has attracted investment from both series 1 and 2.”
As a result of this investment, DREP1 is now fully deployed, having executed 15 investments. DREP2 is currently open for investment and is expected to be substantially larger than DREP1.
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