Marquette Properties is splashing $12 million on a lobby revamp of its Blue Tower in Brisbane’s sought-after Golden Triangle.
Construction is slated to start early this year. The announcement comes just weeks after Marquette submitted plans for a $100-million investment in its Gold Tower entrance.
Marquette acquired the landmark Blue Tower at 12 Creek Street for $420 million in February 2022, described at the time as “a solid bet on the post-pandemic future of the city’s prime office market”.
The Brisbane-based fund manager partnered with Lendlease’s $1.5-billion REP (Real Estate Partners) 4 Fund to secure the tower.
Now, Marquette Properties is investing in the site for the long term, according to managing director Toby Lewis.
“When we bought the building, we always planned to take it from A-grade to Premium,” he said.
“But what it lacked was a lobby that fitted a premium building. So this design has been 12 months in the making.
“We’re working to overhaul the lobby expeditiously so we can reach that Premium standard, which should improve our leasing campaign and help us grow our rents.”
Hutchinson Builders will start work on the project later this month, creating a double-level lobby and new café.
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“We’re cutting out the first floor and doubling height space—that’s critical” Lewis said.
“We are adding timeless finishes, to create a lobby that will get better with age and that will wear in rather than wear out.
“We’re taking a lot of cues on how to create a timeless building from Harry Siedler buildings that, 40 and 50 years on, are still Premium grade assets in their original state.
“Cavills Architects have hit the brief perfectly with that classic corporate identity. The existing café and the lobby will be repositioned and reimagined, doubling in size and capacity, and creating that extra height.”
With some exceptions, lobbies have in the past been overlooked, but Lewis said it was worth giving them greater attention.
“It’s about first impressions. Lobbies lease buildings and sell a building,” he said.
“We’re asking people to spend a third of their lives there, we want them to enjoy their arrival and departure, and which makes people entering the building, but who may not work there a sense of arrival and pride of place.”
