Real estate funds manager Centuria Capital Group (ASX: CNI) has sold the purpose-built Brisbane headquarters of Australian retail giant Super Retail Group (ASX: SUL) for $55 million, ending a lucrative eight-year association for investors in the property trust that owned the property.

The office building, located at 6 Coulthards Avenue in Strathpine on Brisbane’s northside, has been acquired by low-profile Sydney-based investment company Sandran Property Group.

Centuria, which developed the three-storey property and secured Super Retail Group as sole tenant in 2019, says the sale has delivered a 14 per cent initial rate of return for investors of the single-asset wholesale fund that owned the property.

The A-grade, campus-style office building comprises 7,300sqm of net lettable area and its returns are underpinned by Super Retail’s remaining 10-year lease.

Centuria says the sale reflects a turning point for the office market amid ongoing strength for the sector in Brisbane where vacancy rates held steady in the last six months amid a supply shortage.

“For close to 30 years Centuria has provided compelling real estate investment opportunities across a range of asset classes such as office, industrial, retail and alternative sectors,” says Jesse Curtis, Centuria’s head of funds management.

“This particular trust was established in mid-2017 and we are proud to deliver a strong return for our investors throughout the eight-year period.

“Looking more closely at the office sector in general, we have begun to see a turning point, which signals improving medium-term tailwinds driven by increasing adoption of office-centric work mandates, population growth underpinning a larger white-collar workforce, and limited new office developments tapering future supply.

“We believe these factors point to strong future tenant demand and shifting investment sentiment towards the office sector.”

The sale of the Strathpine office building comes on the heels of Centuria paying  $115 million for a retail asset, the Logan Super Centre, on Brisbane’s southside last month in the biggest large-format retail transaction so far in FY25.

Centuria revealed that in the first half of FY25 the group offloaded assets totalling $60 million at an average of 5 per cent above book value.

The group reported a 4.6 per cent increase in funds from operations to $56.6 million for the period, but like-for-like net operating income rose 6.4 per cent.

Centuria says that of its $20.5 billion of assets under management, $13.7 billion is weighted in unlisted funds. 

The sale of the Super Retail headquarters was negotiated by JLL’s Seb Turnbull and Elliott O’Shea in conjunction with Knight Frank’s Matt Barker, Blake Goddard and Justin Bond.

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