Margaret Street office tower changes hands for $70m

Phillip Wolanski's Denwol group is reported to have sold the office tower at 50 Margaret Street to Singaporean group RockworthReal Estate Asset Management for about $70 million.

In February, Rockworth purchased the Phoenix Shopping Centre in Perth for $75.8 million. Mr Wolanski, who recently bought the Bushells building at 121 Harrington Street, Sydney, for $43.5 million, said he would not comment on market speculation. The 16-storey building at 50 Margaret Street was bought by Mr Wolanski in 2009.

If settled, the sale would be one of the first deals in the new financial year and would continue the trend of acquisitions by Asia-based investors. Other recent sales included 115 Bathurst Street to a Chinese developer for $100 million.

Agents said the sale of 50 Margaret Street was a positive for the Sydney CBD at a time when leasing markets were under pressure from rising supply.

Landlords say there is about 100,000 square metres of office space demand in the market by companies looking to expand. The mandates are from Theiss, Nine MSN, Google and Origin Energy.

The latest Savills office market report shows supply in Sydney remained constrained over the short to medium-term. It says full floor availability was 12.2 per cent in June, but with just five available options for tenants seeking contiguous space of more than 10,000 square metres.

On the sales side, Savills recorded about $2.2 billion of office transactions in the year to June in the CBD. This was up 7 per cent from the previous year.

Other assets on the market include the QBE Insurance-owned 80-82 Pitt Street, with a value of about $40 million.