Marprop Futuro, an Australian joint venture between Marprop Real Estate Investors and Futuro Capital, has acquired a Melbourne office with a North American institution for A$80.8m (€51.4m).

The acquisition comes after Marprop Futuro jointly purchased the Wentworth Sofitel hotel in Sydney with KKR for A$315m in October.

Their latest acquisition is 300 Flinders Street, located near the Town Hall Metro Station, part of the A$9bn Melbourne Tunnel project in the city’s central business district.

Marprop’s executive director, Evan Gallagher, said that as asset manager in these properties, Marprop Futuro had a minority equity interest in both the Sofitel Hotel and the Melbourne office building.

Gallagher said: “We look for value-add and core-plus assets. This is our sweet spot.

“With our latest purchase, we will reposition the office building, including reimagining the ground floor lobby and arcade with new entry points,” he told IPE Real Assets.

Gallagher said the building was currently used as a city campus for Victoria University, which was due to vacate in October next year.

The work to enhance the asset would start then, he said, adding that “we are already in negotiation with a major tenant interested in taking the entire building.”

Ben Hopkins, executive director of Futuro Capital, said asset enhancement works and the planned leasing campaign were expected to align with an anticipated recovery in Melbourne occupier markets.

To read the digital edition of the latest IPE Real Assets magazine click here.

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