20 Bridge Street

ASX House is an A-grade commercial office building in the heart of the Sydney CBD. We were asked to step in to address legacy issues and the perception in the market that it was a ‘poorly leased’ property, in order to increase the landmark building’s value.

Background

ASX House’ otherwise known as 20 Bridge Street, Sydney is an A-grade commercial office building of approximately 20,000 sq.m located in the heart of the Sydney CBD. Prior to our engagement, a sales and marketing campaign was undertaken by the previous first ranking secured creditor, with the highest offer being approximately $140 million.

To avoid crystallising their loss, our appointer paid out the first ranking secured creditor prior to the campaign being completed. With the sale averted, we then focused on resolving the tenant disputes and improving the value of the asset.
 

How we helped

Our strategy was to:

1. understand the legacy issues affecting the property
2. formulate and implement a strategy to address those issues
3. reverse a perception in the market that ASX House was a ‘poorly leased’ property, and
4. achieve maximum value for the $5 million in capex reserves which needed to be spent.

Our approach was to:

1. resolve a long-standing dispute between two tenants regarding access, which was the subject of Supreme Court action by: – installing a designated lift solution at a cost of $0.75 million – installing turnstiles on the ground level at a cost of $0.15 million
2. work with the property manager and the anchor tenant to complete the Exchange Square development at a cost of $3.5 million
3. work with the leasing team to rebrand the building and lease the vacant floors.

Result

Our team were able to resolve the long-standing tenant disputes, which in turn enabled all caveats to be removed from title, ensuring clean title when the property was sold.

They allocated capex funds to refurbish areas such as ground floor auditorium and Exchange Square, which in turn generated new interest in the property. After the completion of the works and the strategic rebranding of property, we were successful in leasing two additional floors in difficult market conditions.

We managed the sale of the property for $180 million, being a $40 million uplift in value from when the property was offered to the market 2 years earlier.