Brisbane Club members have secured their financial future with $32m sale of their CBD building
Members of one of Brisbane’s leading private clubs have cashed in their property, pocketing millions for their office tower.
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CLUB’S $32M DEAL
Members of one of Brisbane’s leading private clubs have voted overwhelmingly to sell the freehold title to their CBD office tower home for $32 million.
The rank and file of the Brisbane Club greenlighted the deal at an EGM on Wednesday night in a clear sign they had been persuaded by president Hamish Dee that the move would secure the group’s financial health well into the future.
The CHAB Office Trust, a joint venture of investment giants Charter Hall and Abacus Property Group, has acquired the building at 241 Adelaide St.
Dee, who put the proposal to members in March, had lobbied hard for its approval, describing it as “the best option to secure the long-term viability’’ of the organisation.
“This decision will give the Brisbane Club one of the most enviable balance sheets among professional and business clubs nationwide,’’ he wrote in an email to members on Thursday.
“In the short term, it will relieve us of the financial responsibility for maintaining the building, and in the long term it will place us on a sound footing to find the perfect home, to attract new members, and to imagine and create our future club.’’
The club, originally launched in 1903, has leased its existing space for the next five years as part of the deal. It has a couple of three-year options to renew the lease after that but will also consider relocating to a new spot.
The deal complements CHAB’S move last year, when it forked out $31.5 million to pick up the management and tenancy rights of the building which had previously been owned by financial services firm Australian Unity since 1985.
CHAB also owns the office tower next door at 247 Adelaide St.
PIKOS SELLING?
Has one of Brisbane’s most controversial development sites quietly come on the market?
That’s what City Beat spies tell us about the Kangaroo Point land where developer Pedro Pikos is hoping to build three 15-storey unit towers, much to the chagrin of plenty of outraged locals.
We hear Pikos is now shopping around the amalgamated property at 108 Lambert Street for as much as $70 million.
Notably, it’s understood he only has options on the eight blocks which make up the 5300 sqm site and they expire next month.
Pikos, who did not return a call seeking comment Thursday, has previously offloaded real estate in Kangaroo Point after securing development approvals that boosted their value.
Meanwhile, Pikos continues to battle the Brisbane City Council in the Planning and Environment Court, where he has appealed the knock back of his proposed 300-unit scheme for Lambert Street.
The Council rejected the development application in December on numerous grounds, including problems with site boundary setbacks, building separation, lack of open space and pedestrian accessibility.
But area critics now allege the Council’s efforts to support its case in court have been half-hearted at best and too accepting of submissions by consultants working for Pikos.
They fear mediation efforts now under way will result in Pikos getting his DA with only minor changes to the original scheme.
Pikos has already flagged to the court a planned reduction in the number of units from 300 to 273, fewer car parks and other modifications.
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