500 Queen Street

The Opportunity

With the vendor of 500 Queen Street, Brisbane approaching the maturity of a closed-ended fund, Trident’s team of office leasing experts in Brisbane were engaged to assist with the selling of the building in 2012. At the time of the transaction, the asset was 44.17% vacant. During the sale, Trident was engaged to undertake the leasing, property management and facilities management of the property.

The Results

Upon appointment, Trident was able to lease 2,561sqm across the contiguous low-rise podiums of the building to an ASX top 50 listed company on a new five year lease. This was the largest transaction recorded in the Brisbane CBD secondary grade office market in 2013. Within six months of the owners settling on the building, Trident leased a further 844sqm to three separate groups, bringing the building to 100% occupancy. Given that the Brisbane CBD vacancy rate in 2013 was recorded at 19.7% (PCA), this was an extraordinary result.

Having reached full occupancy, Trident advised the client to undertake upgrades to the Mechanical Services and Tenant experience (for example, EOT facilities, lift car upgrades and foyer re-positioning) to ensure that the building would remain a strong performer in the market, and to ensure that, upon expiry of future leases, it would be in the best position to retain tenants. Trident managed these upgrades seamlessly and without interruption in a building that was never less than 98% occupied. The Mechanical Services upgrade reduced the building’s net electricity operating costs by close to $70,000, which was a 55.3% reduction in air conditioning costs during the Queensland summer.

Through working in partnership with the valued client, Trident have grown the asset’s net return by 25% in a very weak leasing market and ensured that the building offers top-of-class facilities and services to its current and future occupants.

Testament to the fact that Trident will consistently explore new avenues to add value to the assets we manage, they were able to secure a 15 year lease to install a digital signboard on the front of the building for $150,000.00 p.a. net – at no cost to Trident’s client. Conservatively, this adds $2.2 million in capital value to our Trident’s asset.