Mirvac Ditches Student Accommodation for Ann St Office Tower

Diversified property group Mirvac has lodged an application for the development of a commercial office tower in Brisbane's Ann Street, moving away from the current proposal for a 36-storey student accommodation tower.

The application was submitted to the Brisbane City Council this week by Mirvac, who acquired the 5,482sq m site from Singaporean developer Wee Hur Holdings in December 2017.

Wee Hur entered into a put and call option to sell the Ann Street site to Mirvac for $65 million. The agreement was contingent on approval from Wee Hur's shareholders and Mirvac securing a major tenant for the office tower.

The Ann Street site forms part of a larger acquisition made by Wee Hur in 2015 which also included a smaller lot at 71-97 Turbot Street that the developer intends to retain.

Related reading: 5 Minutes with Mirvac CEO Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz

In December, Mirvac agreed to purchase both sites for $79 million. Wee Hur’s board said the sale of both sites was "in the best interest of the group" with the proceeds to be used to finance other projects in Australia.

Designed by Woods Bagot, the proposal includes the development of a 31-storey office tower with ground level retail and service space, comprising approximately 72,540sq m of gross floor area and office floor plates of greater than 1,500sq m NLA.

Related reading: Brisbane Developer Ditches Residential Tower for Office Scheme

The proposal comes at the same time banking and insurance giant Suncorp is looking to consolidate its office space in Brisbane, which consists of 38,000sq m over three sites.

In what could become Queensland’s biggest leasing deal Suncorp is understood to be strongly considering three options including this proposal from Mirvac at Ann Street, ISPT’s proposed 40-storey Regent development on Elizabeth Street and the Shayher Group’s 300 George Street office tower in its Brisbane Quarter development.

The 62-80 Ann Street site currently houses an eight-story commercial office building, the Department of Primary Industries building, leased to the Queensland government.

Related reading: 30-Storey Mixed-Use Tower in Brisbane Proposed to Replace Suncorp

The Singapore-listed Wee Hur previously lodged an application proposing 918 student rooms for the 71-97 Turbot Street and 62-80 Ann Street site with centre activities at ground level.

The 36-storey tower was to include studios and “cluster units” set around balconies and landscaped terraces.

Wee Hur is currently building Brisbane's Buranda UniLodge Park Central, comprising 1578 student rooms and 12 office tenancies. The company is also looking at developing student accommodation in Adelaide and Melbourne.