Beenleigh council high-rise sells for $33m record

A Beenleigh high rise, to be home to the council water business, has broken local sales records selling for a massive $33 million.

The York St tower block in Beenleigh has a massive five-storey mural on two sides and will be home to Logan council’s water business.

A high-rise office building, hailed as the “saviour of the south” with a massive mural on its side, has sold for a record $33 million.

One of the country’s largest listed property funds, Australian Unity Investment Real Estate Limited, paid $33.52 million for the seven-storey office tower being built in Beenleigh for Logan City Council’s water business.

The sum was a record for Beenleigh, a suburb south of Brisbane, which has struggled with unusually high retail vacancy rates during Covid.

Artist Fintan Magee painted the massive 18m by 8m blue figure of a woman with her arms outstretched on to the south-facing wall.

Brisbane artist Gus Eagleton painted a 16m by 15m work on the northern side of the building showing a woman in a hat and a typical Beenleigh wooden house.

Logan artist Fintan Magee painted the massive 18m by 8m blue figure of a woman with her arms outstretched on to the south-facing wall of the York St building.

The building in York St is one of two high rises in Beenleigh and was owned and built by the council’s investment arm, InvestLogan with partner Alder Developments.

It will be home to the council’s water and waste business, which has a 10-year lease on the office space, which the council will pay $5.6 million to fit out.

InvestLogan chair Steve Greenwood said the sale heralded the next stage of the Beenleigh’s evolution and hoped it would revitalise the town which has its own courthouse and train station.

He said about 250 council staff were expected to work in the dedicated council office space, which would boost flagging retail outlets in and around Beenleigh.

It was expected to create 100 jobs during construction and 140 full-time jobs created when it opens.

Brisbane artist Gus Eagleton painted this 16m x 15m work showing a typical Beenleigh house on the northern side of the Beenleigh York St tower.

“This project provides a rare fusion of commercial, retail, and residential opportunities and will be instrumental in the revitalisation of the Beenleigh business community by creating a vibrant commercial precinct designed for local business to prosper,” he said.

Logan council and the state government have spent $5 million beautifying Beenleigh with shade sails, street art and furniture.

The building was partly completed last month with 4660 sqm of commercial space including four small home-office apartments, a ground floor retail space, and a dual-level underground car park.

Unveiled: the mural on the side of the York St tower.

Apartments are 119.5 sqm and are designed for small offices or home offices and are available to lease from $400 sqm.

The ground floor retail space has the potential to be occupied as a 173.5 sqm single tenancy or split into two 86.75 sqm tenancies and is available from $700 sqm.

CBRE agents Jack Morrison and Peter Chapple said having the council has a long-term tenant was a good investment for Australian Unity.

Logan Ratepayers Association president Rod Shaw said the council should not have sold the property.

“Any land sold by council should be surplus to their needs which it obviously isn’t if they are leasing the building when Logan Water will be the main tenant,” he said.

“The council also paid to fit out the office at a cost of $5.6 million and they could have used that money to build their own site and avoid ongoing lease payments.

“Any commercial landlord would pay some of the tenants’ fit-out costs to secure the tenancy.

“The deal makes InvestLogan look profitable even though it posted accumulated losses of $6.78 million for the past two years.”