Thursday January 13th, 2011. The last day of class has arrived, and an end to our journey “down under” is in sight.
To get the day rolling we started off by meeting with a PM from Grocon Development, accompanied by an Asset Manager from LIM (equity partner). 161 Castlereigh is the project they are undertaking together, a ground up development of one of Sydney’s most treasured piece of real estate.
The 50-story building will have a penthouse suite at the top level, a tactical decision made to please the original land/building owner. The project is in the excavation process, with construction planned to begin next month. The objective is to build the property to a 5-star Green Star level, and also a 5-star NABERS rating. Construction completion is slated for 2013, making the full project timeline from due diligence to completion 13 YEARS! Patience is a virtue in the real estate world, but even more so if you are dealing with the rezoning and “red tape” in developing in Australia!
Grocon is the nations largest private real estate developer, with a highly respected pipeline and past performance history. For the Castlereigh project, we managed to learn a few things about their plans for creating a “sustainable” project. The building is 75% pre-leased with high credit tenants Freehills Law Firm, & ANZ Bank. Here a few key points and attributes about the project:
-Fresh air intake w/ ventilation for increased productivity
-ANZ Bank REQUIRED this feature in their lease, justifying their internal “green” initiative.
-LED lighting
-Rainwater harvesting system for sinks & toilets
-95% of demo waste was recycled
-Auto light dimmers & blind lowering sensors for different times of the day
-Trigeneration plant with use of natural gas, attempt to stay completely OFF of the energy grid
-Exploring possibility of a vertical axis wind farm atop the building for energy independence
-Solar panel systems
Ultimately, projects like this and the upcoming Central Park project by Frasers International are justifying the strong office market in Sydney. I look forward to seeing this project completed the next time I make it over to Australia!
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