Strata sector robust as business buys offices to occupy

An empty unfitted shell on the second floor of Beulah International’s redevelopment on the corner of Lonsdale and Queen streets recently sold to a law firm for $3.6 million.

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Beulah bought the hotel from Celtic Club Irish social club and built a tower above it.

The 515 sq m office purchased by the law firm fetched about $7000 a sq m It was the second to sell in the building where level three recently sold for $3.15 million but at a higher per sq m rate.

Beulah co-founder Jiaheng Chan attributed the buyer interest to the building’s design and location.

Davies and colleague Anthony Kirwan, along with CBRE’s Alex Brierley negotiated the deal, with Advise Transact’s Mark Wizel representing Beulah.

Meanwhile, in the highly sought-after east end of the city, Brierley and colleagues Nathan Mufale and JJ Heng also sold level 2 at 165 Flinders Lane in a boardroom auction for a bullish $15,340 a sq m.

The price for the 88 sq m whole floor office space was $1.35 million. It last changed hands in 2019 for $1.04 million.

Seven offers were made during an expressions of interest campaign, so agents converted the process to an auction. All the bidders were owner-occupiers, Mufale said.

The seven-level McDonald House is on the corner of Hosier Lane, famous the world over for its ever changing graffiti art.

Not all strata is new. Old favourites, like Bank Place off Collins, are still trading well. Suite 101 in building No.4-10 sold to an owner-occupier for $555,000 at a rate of $11,167 per sq m.

So far this year, there have been 19 transactions in the sector worth $54 million at an average rate of $10,224 per sq m, Colliers data shows.

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