Coming, Ready or Not: Relic Stripped to Bone for Green Glow-Up

A relic of Brisbane’s corporate past is being reborn and it’s not just getting a facelift. The 1974-built tower at 444 Queen Street, once defined by its bronze tones and pebblecrete facade, is being stripped back to its skeleton by property giant PGIM Real Estate. The major financial backer of Howard Smith Wharves and the third biggest real estate investment manager in the world plans to create one of Australia’s most sustainable commercial towers. The former Public Trustee tower, just outside the Golden Triangle and opposite Customs House, was picked up for $54.4 million in October of 2021. Plans were filed months later. PGIM has rebranded the project to 450 Queen Street, a more auspicious number for potential investors of Asian heritage, and will hand it over to its construction partner Buildcorp at the end of July. But even getting this far has been no mean feat. PGIM Real Estate head of Australia Steve Bulloch says it hasn’t been a linear journey and there’s been plenty of challenges so far. “I’d like to think we will do more projects like this, it is the right thing to do, but it’s not easy,” Bulloch tells The Urban Developer . ▲ PGIM’s Steve Bulloch at the 450 Queen Street launch this month. “Along the journey we did have to explore a few options ... we did think about residential and various other forms of mixed use, but our real passion for this was the adaptive reuse play.” Bulloch says it will be a great office asset at a time when little new stock is coming online but is not sure if Brisbane is ready for it. “My view is that the market’s still not really rewarding this type of courage ... maybe that’s too strong a word ... for groups undertaking this adaptive reuse and the embodied carbon benefits,” Bulloch says. “I hope the tenants will continually and increasingly understand this and appreciate it. I hope that the state and federal government start to actually recognise it ... with some tax advantages. “Hopefully that comes, but despite that, we still think it’s the right thing to do, and we think it’s good for us and good for the city. “And of course, we are big believers in the flight-to-quality story.” The 22-storey building of 13,0967sq m will be topped with a double-storey cross-laminated timber to create three levels of penthouse offices. This will bring the tower to 24 storeys and 17,235sq m of net lettable area on floor plates of 720 to 1200 square metres. The project is, PGIM says targeting the highest available credentials, including a 6 Star Green Star rating, a 5.5 Star NABERS Energy rating, 4 Star NABERS Water rating, and Net Zero certification. A review by the Green Building Council of Australia found that the approach will result in 66 per cent fewer carbon emissions than a demolish-and-rebuild scenario when the build completes in 2027. ▲ The new building is envisioned as one of Australia’s most sustainable commercial buildings. There will also be 50 parking spaces, end-of-trip facilities, and 600sq m of landscaped terraces as well as a retail and business lounge on the ground floor of the 1708sq m site. FK head of design Nicky Drobis says there are many aged buildings in Brisbane CBD with questionable facades. “The challenge for the asset owner is choosing what the right thing is for the uplift—a fresh coat of paint won’t cut it,” Drobis says. “People who don’t invest in what they believe in will lose out in the next 5 to 10 years.” Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner says the Brisbane CBD is constantly evolving and much has happened in a relatively short period of time. “Brisbane is quite unique, where everything’s condensed into a relatively small CBD,” he says. “To put that in perspective, until 1970, city hall was the tallest building in Brisbane. ▲ The former 444 Queen Street building—its skeleton was revealed after demolition works ( right ). “There was a massive wave of investment ... during the 1970s and 80s and, until recently, we saw a lot of those buildings coming down and replaced with new buildings. “What we’re seeing here is a new trend, the adaptive reuse of existing buildings.” Schrinner says there are a limited number of companies that can pull this kinds of project off, particularly in the current challenging construction market, but that is the right solution at the right time. “PGIM was pretty clever ... having Customs House right in front of the building means they’ll never be built out, and so whoever your tenants are will have a wonderful view,” Schrinner says. “In a number of other CBDs [there is] an oversupply of office accommodation. That’s not really something we have a problem with, in fact it’s probably the opposite.” ▲ The 450 Queen Street site overlooks Customs House and the Brisbane River. Buildcorp co-owner Josephine Sukkar says the project is in safe hands with their top 500 private company that has no debt and a very strong balance sheet. “The Buildcorp team brings over 35 years of experience and stability in delivering complex commercial refurbishments,” Sukkar says. “We are alert to the concern of asset owners and the Brisbane community in the construction community’s fragility in some places.”

Coming, Ready or Not: Relic Stripped to Bone for Green Glow-Up

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