A Brisbane CBD office building is now fully occupied following a lease to one of Australia’s largest providers of early education and childcare for their Australian head office.
Affinity Education Group have leased 1,368sq m – consisting of the whole of Level 1 – at 295 Ann Street for an initial period of five years in a deal negotiated by Mark McCann and Jamie Nason of Knight Frank, who are jointly appointed on the building with CBRE.
The deal was struck at a leasing rate of $770/square metre.
The 15-level building at 295 Ann St is part of a precinct of three assets now called No1 ANZAC Square together with 140 Creek Street and 232 Adelaide Street.
Property owner AsheMorgan acquired the assets in late 2019 and has since completed a $25 million refurbishment of No1 ANZAC Square.
The refurbishment works have reconnected the three buildings and embraced Brisbane’s subtropical climate with over 6,000 plants, extensive green walls and large suspended grow rings, which complement the signature building lobbies, a five-storey glass atrium entryway and two club-style end of trip facilities.
Major tenants in the precinct include the State Government, Queensland Rail, Services Australia and SAP.
Affinity Education Group will relocate to the building from 100 Creek Street.
Mr McCann said the deal took the No1 ANZAC Square precinct to 100 per cent occupied. “Tenant demand for space in the building has been strong,” he said.
“The refurbishment undertaken by AsheMorgan was of the highest quality, which was one of the major factors attracting tenants, as well as the property’s location.
“The building is within easy walking distance to Central Station, major bus routes and the retail and services amenity of Queen Street Mall.
“We have seen owners of major CBD assets committing to investments in existing buildings in recent years, which has been attractive to tenants, many of whom who have been reviewing their space requirements following the pandemic.
“Affinity need a bigger space to accommodate an expansion move as its business its growing.”
Affinity Education Group’s Chief Financial Officer Cathy Montesin said the central location of the building – with easy access to Brisbane’s main train station and bus routes – was one of the primary attractions.
“Many of our team commute from the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast, so the central location, which happens to be across the road from our existing offices, will work extremely well for our team,” she said.
Other factors which attracted Affinity Education were an abundance of natural light and green spaces, and a flexible and modern floorplan which will accommodate a rapidly growing team.
“Even though our organization has retained a work from home policy post-COVID, our culture is such that our people still opt to come into the office a minimum of three days per week, so we are thrilled 295 Ann Street will provide our team with such a welcoming environment to work from.”