Coal billionaire Sam Chong has paid about $140m for 260 Queen St in Brisbane’s CBD

Sam Chong’s purchase is one of a wave of sales in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra, while Sydney and Melbourne’s big commercial properties struggle for buyers.

260 Queen St in the Brisbane’s CBD was formerly Westpac’s headquarters.

Billionaire coal baron Sam Chong has swooped on a major Brisbane office tower, picking up the Queen St asset from US funds manager Hines for about $140m in a sign the property market will see more trading next year.

The deal comes as smaller capitals provide a lead out of the stalemate between buyers and sellers of office towers which has emerged in large cities.

There has been a wave of sales in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra, but large sales have been harder to strike in both Sydney and Melbourne where a series of buildings are yet to find buyers.

The smaller markets have adapted more quickly to high interest rates and many also have higher occupancy levels than larger cities.

Businessman Sam Chong (right) with son Paul. Picture: Calleja Mark

And Brisbane is getting more active.

Funds house Marquette Properties in October bought an A-grade office complex in the city’s Southbank, snapping up a Grey St tower from Mirvac for just over $104m.

Mr Chong’s purchase continues a wave of buying by private players while many listed buyers and wholesale funds are all but out of the market.

The billionaire was one of the founders of the Jellinbah East Coal Mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin and his wealth is rising amid a soaring coal price – with the private miner of Mr Chong declaring a $1.92bn profit the past financial year and handing over $1.7bn in dividends to its owners.

Jellinbah’s Queensland mines export mostly coking coal used by steel mills, and raked in cash as the price of metallurgical coal jumped to more than $US600 a tonne shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

CBRE’s Tom Phipps, Peter Chapple and Bruce Baker and JLL’s Paul Noonan and Seb Turnbull brokered the property sale.

The billionaire’s purchase of 260 Queen St, which sits adjacent to Post Office Square, is a sign of confidence in Brisbane’s central business district.

Hines and joint venture partner Goldman Sachs acquired the 23-storey office tower, which was formerly the headquarters of Westpac, for $95m in 2018 and then tapped Built for a $12.5m refurbishment.

The 13,000sq m tower had complete reconfiguration and orientation of its ground floor, replacement of the existing podium facade and significant building services upgrades.

The revamped tower, which was transformed by architects Blight Rayner Architects, now has tenants including WeWork, which is across the first four floors of the building, over about 4,600sq m.

Hines has been highly active in the commercial property market and has also forged into developing build to rent towers.