Cartier building to test the market with $150m price tag

One of the more exclusive addresses in Sydney’s city, the Cartier Building, is set to test the market with the private owners looking for a generational change and offering with a high-end price tag of $150 million.

The 17-storey tower with the long-standing Cartier jewellery store on the street level will be one of the city’s first major office offerings of the year.

The multi-tenanted building at 74 Castlereagh Street, which sits opposite Westfield Sydney and nearby to the luxury Hermes and Chanel stores, comes at a time when few other prime Sydney office and retail buildings are available for sale aside from the $200 million move by SC Capital to sell 4-6 Bligh Street.

It is being sold by the private family business Country State Development Pty Ltd and Colliers’ national director, Sydney CBD sales and investment services Vince Kernahan is advising on the sale.

“The property is the best A-grade boutique building in Sydney,” Kernahan said.

“It has the perfect combination of high-end retail opposite Westfield Sydney, and the office floor plates of 350 square metres with three sides of light ideally suit the strongest cohort of leasing demand being experienced by all leasing agents.”

While investors have been reluctant to step heavily into the market over the global pandemic, there are signs that interest is coming back.

Colliers’ recent research found that the weight of capital looking to invest in the office sector has continued to increase strongly, with a highly competitive environment for core long weighted average lease expiry (WALE) assets.

The sale also coincides with more workers returning to the office.