Investa

Investa Funds to sell recently refurbished 485 La Trobe Street Melbourne

The recently refurbished building at 485 La Trobe Street, Melbourne, is to be listed for sale by Investa Property Group.

The well located CBD property is jointly owned by Investa Commercial Property Fund (ICPF) and Investa Enhanced Fund (IEF). It was acquired in 2007 as a repositioning and re-leasing opportunity. This strategy has now been successfully completed, with a number of major tenants taking long-term leases in the newly refurbished space.

Situated between King and William Streets, within the Flagstaff legal precinct of the Melbourne CBD, 485 La Trobe has five key tenants from legal, insurance, business services, government and telecommunications sectors. It is now almost 100% leased with a Weighted Average Lease Expiry (WALE) of over 7 years, affording investors a much longer than average income stream.

Peter Menegazzo, ICPF Fund Manager said: “485 La Trobe Street was an extremely successful project for ICPF. The significant refurbishment of the North Tower was completed in May 2009 and delivered a strong environmental outcome and an extremely successful leasing campaign. Over 25,000m² of leases were negotiated in one of the most challenging leasing markets in recent times.”

Roger Parker, Fund Manager for IEF added: “The resilience of the Melbourne office market has been reflected in the results of this project, with the majority of the available area leased before completion of the upgrade. With the asset repositioning strategy now complete, we are now pleased to offer this quality property to the market in line with our Fund strategy.”

Investa has appointed Jones Lang LaSalle and CB Richard Ellis as joint agents to sell 485 La Trobe Street, Melbourne. The expressions of interest campaign will commence after Easter, closing Wednesday 12 May, 2010.
Robert Anderson, National Director, Sales and Investments for Jones Lang LaSalle, said he expected significant interest in the sale of 485 La Trobe Street. “This sale provides an opportunity for investors to acquire a quality A-grade commercial asset within the Melbourne CBD. The opportunity provides a secure income stream and the ability to benefit from expected strong rental growth in the coming years.”

Martin O’Sullivan, Senior Director of CB Richard Ellis noted “485 La Trobe Street had recently undergone a significant refurbishment which has resulted in the asset achieving an enviable 4.5 Star NABERS Energy rating and a 4 Star Green Star Design rating v2 in the North Tower. The compulsory disclosure of NABERS ratings from July this year will make 485 La Trobe Street even more highly regarded in the Melbourne CBD market and should further drive returns for investors.”

For further information contact:
Investa Property Group
General Manager – Marketing, Katie Barton-Harvey
on 02 8226 9391 or 0427 234 862, kbarton-harvey@investa.com.au