Sentinel secures waterfront office tower in Qld’s far north

SENTINEL Property Group has staked a claim in Townsville’s CBD, swooping on a waterfront office building occupied by major national and international tenants.

TOP ASSET: The seven-storey River Quays waterfront office tower in Townsville acquired by Sentinel Property Group.

SENTINEL Property Group has staked a claim in Townsville’s CBD, swooping on a waterfront office building occupied by major national and international tenants.

The Brisbane-based fund manager led by Warren Ebert has purchased the seven-storey River Quays building at 3-17 Tomlins St for $28.6 million.

The building — with a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 2.95 years — was sold with a passing net income of $2.6 million, equating to a yield of 9.19 per cent.

Its acquisition continues Sentinel’s strategy of tapping into a rich vein of investment opportunities throughout regional Queensland.

River Quays is the eighth addition to the Sentinel Regional Office Trust over the past 14 months with a combined value of more than $231 million.

Mr Ebert said the group was excited to add another asset to the Sentinel Regional Office Trust and to its investment portfolio in Townsville, which also includes the OneSteel Reinforcing industrial warehouse at Garbutt and the Woodlands shopping centre at Deeragun.

He said he was confident about the economic outlook for Townsville with the city and surrounding regions poised to benefit from massive infrastructure, defence and mining projects.

“Townsville is Australia’s 13th largest city and is at the epicentre of more than $22 billion worth of projects within the infrastructure, sporting, mining, defence, health and manufacturing sectors,” he said.

River Quays was taken to market through Quinlan Property Group’s John and Michael Quinlan and CBRE’s Peter Court and Mike Walsh.

It comprises a net lettable area of 9414sq m and was 95 per cent occupied when listed for sale.

Anchor tenants in the building include the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Telstra, Aecom and mining giant Adani.

Established in 2010, Sentinel has a total national portfolio of more than 40 assets with a total value of more than $1.1 billion.

The Sentinel Regional Office Trust also comprises 11 Argyle St, Newcastle; The CasCom Centre at Casuarina in Darwin; 200 Creek St, Brisbane; 8 Buller St, Port Macquarie; Jacana House and Arnhemica House in Darwin and 139 Grafton St, Cairns.