Cimitiere House, No.113-115 Cimitiere St and No.34 George St, Launceston. Picture: Supplied.
A landmark Launceston office tower has hit the market with government tenants locked in.
Cimitiere House is a fully-leased, five-star green-rated office complex, and its sale is described by agents as one of the most significant commercial property tests of investor appetite in the state’s history.
Since launch, the agents have received strong interest from private, institutional and interstate buyers.
MORE: Woolworths-backed cold storage facility in Hobart heads to auction
Major coastal CBD landholding hits the market
Recipe for success: Launceston asset sold at auction
Is this Hobart City’s last block of land?
Cimitiere House, No.113-115 Cimitiere St and No.34 George St, Launceston.
Cimitiere House, No.113-115 Cimitiere St and No.34 George St, Launceston.
Cimitiere House and the adjoining heritage office at No.34 George St, Launceston, have been listed for sale via expressions of interest.
The campaign is being run by Shaun Venables, Matthew Wright and George Wilkinson of CBRE, alongside David Webster and Cale Ayres of Elders Commercial.
Mr Venables said the offering stood out as one of the strongest office investment opportunities to hit the Tasmanian market.
“This is a rare opportunity to secure one of Launceston’s landmark office assets, combining a modern A-Grade commercial building with a beautifully refurbished heritage office property on a substantial CBD landholding,” he said.
“With 100 per cent occupancy, a 6.2-year WALE (weighted average lease expiry), a strong government income profile and significant on-site parking, Cimitiere House offers the type of scale, covenant strength and income security that is increasingly difficult to find in regional markets.”
Cimitiere House, No.113-115 Cimitiere St and No.34 George St, Launceston.
Cimitiere House, No.113-115 Cimitiere St and No.34 George St, Launceston.
Elders Commercial’s David Webster said the property’s history was unusual, with the George St site originally brought into the development to satisfy carparking requirements needed for approval of the main Cimitiere House tower.
The result, he said, was one of the first buildings in Tasmania designed and constructed to Green Building standards.
The holding combines a five-level A-Grade office tower with a refurbished Victorian Italianate heritage building, sitting on a combined 3255sq m corner landholding with 115m of street frontage.
Together the buildings offer 5257sq m of net lettable area and 70 on-site car spaces.
Completed in 2009, Cimitiere House holds a five-star NABERS Energy Rating.
Cimitiere House, No.113-115 Cimitiere St and No.34 George St, Launceston.
Cimitiere House, No.113-115 Cimitiere St and No.34 George St, Launceston.
The vendor has invested more than $6.5m into the asset since acquiring it in early 2012, including a $4.5m refurbishment completed to secure expanded State Government tenancies, and a $2.5m heritage restoration of the George St building.
The property is fully leased and produces net income of $1.98m per year.
The Tasmanian Department of Health accounts for more than half of that income, with the remaining space held by Rae & Partners, GHD, Timberlands Pacific and Rural Press.
Cimitiere House sits nearby the new St Lukes building, the Verge Hotel, and the $60m, 179-room Fragrance Hotel that is currently under construction.
The listing lands amid renewed investor focus on Tasmania, where major infrastructure spending and steady economic growth continue to underpin confidence in Launceston’s commercial sector.
The city’s catchment now tops 230,000 people, with the state’s Gross State Product hitting a record $40.6bn — up 26.3 per cent since 2014.
Expressions of interest for Cimitiere House close on November 11.
