Charter Hall Pays $363m for Geoscience Australia HQ

Charter Hall has snapped up Canberra’s Geoscience Australia Headquarters for $363.5 million, a record commercial property sale for the ACT.

Investment managers Real IS listed the facility through an international expressions of interest campaign managed by Colliers and JLL this year with an expected price tag of more than $360 million. The sale reflected a 7.4 per cent initial yield.

Charter Hall bought units in the property’s trust via its managed funds: he Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT bought a 25 per cent share for $90.9 million with its share funded by its existing debt capacity, and the Charter Hall Long WALE REIT bought another 25 per cent share also for $90.9 million. 

It funded its share by selling off industrial facilities at 364-426 Old Geelong Road at Hoppers Crossing, Victoria for $74 million in June this year.

Settlement of the Old Geelong Road sale is expected in December and the property has a 3.5 year WALE and 4.5 per cent cap rate.

The other 50 per cent was purchased by Charter Hall itself for $181.75 million. 

▲ The labs and interior of the Geoscience Australia building were recently refurbished by Iqon.

The facility was purpose built by the federal government in 1997 on a 160,378sq m site at 101 Jerrabomberra Avenue, Symonston, less than 10km from the Canberra CBD. 

It was designed by Eggleston MacDonald (now DesignInc) and the federal government moved into the facility upon completiion in 1998.

When built, 17,000 cubic m of concrete and 1200 tonnes of structural steel were used to construct the main building and the adjoining support building. 

Geoscience Australia is the sole tenant for the facility, which has a net lettable area of 32,659sq m, a 7.4 per cent initial yield and a 9.6 year WALE.

It has geochemistry, geochronology and mineral separation labs along with a mass spectrometer and national earthquake alert seismic centre.

There are 652 parking spaces, a childcare centre, end-of-trip facilities, a public gallery, a research library, cafe and a gym on the site. 

The building has a geothermal heat pump system of 350 pipes to use the earth as a heat sink or source in different seasons as part of its air-conditioning system. It also has other energy efficient systems, including a passive sun-control system, double glazing and thermal insulation.