AMP NZ Office Trust announces major leases and new benchmark rentJuly 26, 2005 New Zealand’s largest listed investor in premium commercial office property, AMP NZ Office Trust (ANZO), has announced a series of leasing transactions, including full floors at three of its properties and a new benchmark rent in a fourth. ANZO executive manager Robert Lang said, the trust has leased more than 30,000 sqm of space during the financial year for the third consecutive year and signed up 20 new tenants to the portfolio. The new leases took ANZO’s year-end portfolio occupancy as at 30 June 2005 to 95.1 percent. Mr Lang said it was particularly pleasing to have established direct relationships with a number of former sub-tenants as head leases expired in some of ANZO’s Wellington properties. Ongoing growth in rents across the portfolio has meant that ANZO’s buildings are now on average 1.3% under-rented and better poised than at any time to capture further growth in market rentals. Approximately 36,000 sqm or 17.8% of ANZO’s net lettable area is expected to benefit from increasing market rents as the scheduled rent reviews roll around over the next twelve months. WellingtonThe Canadian High Commission has taken a 10-year lease on the 867 sqm level 11 of 125 The Terrace, lifting occupancy in this building to 100 percent. A substantial fit-out is underway before the commission takes occupancy at the beginning of November. Elsewhere in ANZO’s Wellington portfolio, three new leases have been signed up for the Mobil on the Park building. While the property was effectively fully leased, through ANZO’s active asset management approach, a new tenant to the portfolio, Farmer’s Mutual Insurance Association (FMG), has been secured for level 20 on a nine-year lease term. FMG is well known to the rural community in Australasia but a new entrant to the Wellington business district. Other recent transactions within Mobil on the Park involved two former sub-tenants which are now direct tenants of ANZO. Citigroup has made a six-year commitment to 470 sqm on level 19, while BMC Software has signed up for 272 sqm on the same floor for nine years. As a result of this activity occupancy in Mobil on the Park is currently 98.5% leaving just 260 sqm of harbour-facing, fitted-out office space available. AucklandIn Quay Tower, current tenant Southern Cross has recommitted to its existing podium level and taken an additional full floor in the building. Negotiations are continuing with several potential tenants for space in the building that will be available to lease in 2007. Mr Lang commented: “This interest from multiple tenants in the same space is indicative of the shortage of quality office accommodation in desirable locations. With vacancy levels in both Auckland and Wellington at historic lows, tenants need to consider their options well in advance of their lease expiry.” Australian-listed project development and contracting group Leighton Holdings, another new tenant to the ANZO portfolio, has taken 700 sqm on one of the lower levels of the ANZ Centre, and existing tenant AIG has also increased its space. In the PricewaterhouseCoopers Tower, a new benchmark rent of more than $400 per square metre has been set for a part-floor lease on level nine of the 29-level building. “Rentals like this, for one of the lower floors in the building, reinforce the value ascribed to a high-quality building and waterfront location,” said Mr Lang. In IAG House, the fitted-out office suites concept introduced at the beginning of this year has been successful and is likely to be extended. Tenants are now in place in 50 percent of the suites, which are designed for small professional firms and developing businesses and are available on flexible terms to accommodate business needs. About ANZOANZO is New Zealand’s largest listed investor in premium commercial office property. A unit trust listed on the New Zealand Exchange, ANZO currently owns 10 New Zealand office buildings – Auckland’s PricewaterhouseCoopers Tower, ANZ Centre, IAG House and Quay Tower; and Wellington’s State Insurance Tower, Mobil on the Park, HP Tower, 125 The Terrace, No. 1 and 3 The Terrace and Pastoral House. ANZO is managed by AMP Multiplex Management Limited. Media enquiries: |