Fully leased Parramatta office building set to hit the market

A fully leased office building in Sydney’s western suburb of Parramatta is about to hit the market.

The building, comprising five office floors and ground floor retail, occupies a prominent corner in the Parramatta CBD. 

The sale of 75 George Street will be through an international expressions of interest campaign closing November 8.

The marketing is being handled by Graeme Russell, Simon Fenn, Ian Hetherington and Ben Azar of Savills Australia on behalf of CorVal.

The property is heavily underdeveloped on a substantial 2,668 square metre site with 9,568 square metres of net lettable area (NLA). 

It is fully leased to five office tenants, two retail tenants and a car park operator. 

Major tenants include St George Bank, HCF and UniSuper. The building has a three year Weighted Average Lease Term (WALE), 4.0 Star NABERS Rating and a net passing income of circa $4,752,566 per annum.

According to Graeme Russell, development approval had been obtained to add nearly an extra 2,600 square metres of net lettable area by adding two extra floors to the existing building. 

It can also be land banked for a major redevelopment over the longer term.

“The existing improvements are high quality, fully leased and located on Parramatta’s best corner in the tightest major office market in the country. It all adds up to a compelling opportunity,” he said. 

Leading architects Fitzpatrick & Partners have prepared a scheme to develop a 36-level building of circa 30,550 square metres, subject to council approval.

The twin-tower design of the building provides large floor plates of circa 1,856 square metres that are well suited to government and major corporations, who are the dominant occupiers in the Parramatta market. The floors also split into two pods easily and are sub-divisible even further if required.

The building has undergone recent refurbishment works including a new ground floor foyer.

Parramatta is the centre piece of the generational change occurring in Sydney’s western region, and has one of the tightest office markets, according to Savills.

Both the government and the private sector have invested in major infrastructure projects in the area as it transitions into “Sydney’s second CBD”. 

Prime grade vacancy has fallen to zero and overall vacancy is the lowest of any major market at 4.3%, according to research by Savills Australia. 

Further, 133,000 square metres of major pre-commitments have been announced, with all of these tenants relocating to Parramatta from the Sydney CBD.

The lack of good quality office space available for lease is driving rental growth in the market, said Savills' Simon Fenn.

“The economic rents associated with the new office projects are setting high rental benchmarks. Existing office owners in the area are benefiting, as rents for existing office stock are naturally dragged up or reflect attractive value compared to new builds” he said.

Sydney’s west is forecast to facilitate the majority of population and employment growth. The region’s population is predicted to increase by 52% between 2011 and 2036 with employment predicted to grow by an equally as impressive 55% over the same period.