Mah family’s MKH Properties buys Regent St building from AMP CapitalTech for $59.5m

Building sales around Sydney’s emerging technology precinct show strong demand, with the Mah family snapping up a $59.5m slice of the action.

An offshore-backed private group has bought an office block in the heart of Sydney’s Tech Central precinct, picking up the Regent St property for $59.5m.

The area is coming alive, with the $3bn Central Place Sydney – a joint venture development between Dexus and Frasers Property – winning development approval and the $1.8bn Atlassian headquarters advancing.

The Mah family’s MKH Properties is understood to have bought the Regent St building from funds manager AMP Capital and HB+B Property, adding to its holdings in the area.

The latest acquisition, 55-59 Regent St, Chippendale, is a four-storey office building with 2931sq m of floor space. It was sold on a tight 3.1 per cent stabilised yield, reflecting its favourable location.

MKH’s other holdings include the Capitol Square Hotel in Haymarket, which it bought for $26m during the pandemic. The group is a big investor in the area, but offloaded the nearby Central Square office complex at 323 Castlereagh St to US fund manager LaSalle Investment Management for $325m in 2019.

JLL’s Mitch Noonan and James Aroney brokered the off-market transaction for the Regent St asset, but declined to comment on the buyer.

The Institute of Creative Arts and Technology occupies 88 per cent of the net lettable area, with a lease expiry of seven years.

Developer HB+B Property and AMP Capital bought the property in late 2020 for about $37m.

They were in the early stages of a repositioning and planning-proposal strategy for a major redevelopment of the office building.

“Together with the procurement of the head lease, the sale of the asset in the current economic climate is a pleasing result for HB+B and its JV partner. The outcome underpins the company’s strong belief in the city fringe and its office value-add investment strategy moving forward,” HB+B Property development manager Chris Lykoudis said.

Mr Noonan said that the city fringe market had been a resilient investment destination for both private and institutional capital, which is being supported by major infrastructure and a strong occupier market with nearly no vacancy across prime assets in the core city fringe precincts.

AMP Capital fund manager Tim Fallet said while it was good to realise value after the recent refurburbishment and release of the property, the group were big believers in the precinct. They have recently acquired another office property in the area with significant redevelopment plans on behalf of the same capital partner.