Singaporean fund GIC ups stake in Parramatta

This deal is a significant addition to GIC’s investment in Parramatta given the scale of the property, which sits on a 13,530sq m site and has a net lettable area of 53,900sq m. The fund also owns a half stake in Westfield Parramatta, which it bought from then-Westfield Group for $717.5 million in 2007.

“Parramatta is expected to benefit from Sydney’s forecast population growth and planned infrastructure enhancements such as a new metro line to the Sydney CBD and a light rail link,” Lee Kok Sun, chief investment officer of GIC Real Estate, said.

“As a long-term value investor, we are confident this asset will generate resilient, income-driven returns. We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Charter Hall through this transaction and working together to add value to this asset.”

Jessie Street Centre is 99.9 per cent occupied with a weighted average lease expiry of 3.9 years and is predominantly leased to the Australian Taxation Office, AMP Services Limited and various NSW Government Service tenancies.

Charter Hall has been busy building a portfolio of assets in Parramatta. In 2018 it partnered with Western Sydney University to develop a $280 million education and commercial office project. Two funds run by Charter Hall also own the $220 million vertical campus at One Parramatta Square.

Charter Hall fund manager Trent James said Jessie Street Centre was an opportunity to acquire a high-quality Parramatta office asset.

“The ongoing transformation of Parramatta will see it as a genuine second CBD and likely to surpass North Sydney as Sydney’s largest metropolitan CBD market,” he said. “This investment demonstrates our ongoing long-term support of western Sydney,”

Paul Roberts, Ben Schubert and Graeme Russell, of Knight Frank, and Steven Kearney, Josh Cullen and Rick Butler, of Cushman & Wakefield, brokered the deal.