QSuper grows US property portfolio

A two-tower office complex fully leased to Microsoft and an apartment block near Amazon’s proposed second headquarters are the latest additions to QSuper’s property portfolio in the United States.

Combined, QSuper’s two latest US investments are valued around $1 billion.

The dual office towers are in Bellevue, Washington, 17 kilometres from Seattle, and have a total floor area around 70,000 square metres and a seven-level underground parking station with 2,394 parking bays.

The apartment complex is in Falls Church, Virginia near the cities of Arlington and Alexandria and are just 10 kilometres from Washington DC’s Ronald Reagan Airport and the proposed Amazon HQ2.

The two new purchases are the latest in QSuper’s American portfolio, joining real estate investments in:

• Austin, Texas
• Manhattan, New York
• Chicago, Illinois
• Washington DC.

Global investment

QSuper first invested in overseas property in 2006, with investments made progressively and with strategic partners.

QSuper has also invested in infrastructure beyond Australia.

Before stepping down at the end of 2019, former QSuper chairman Karl Morris said the fund’s continued international investment was aimed at diversifying the assets that would generate income for our members in retirement.

He said it also helped make Australia a participant of note in global infrastructure and real estate markets.

The most recent investments mean that, on behalf of our members, QSuper now owns strategic assets ranging from British airports through to real estate holdings in the Australian and UK office and retail markets, the US office and apartment markets and the Continental Europe industrial market.

Key QSuper international investments

Real estate

• A prime CBD office block in downtown Austin, Texas. The 21-storey, 36,000-square-metre building is leased by financial, professional services and technology tenants.
• QSuper owns a percentage of One Times Square, home to the iconic New York billboards and LED signs that can be seen from 10 blocks away and the famous New Year’s Eve 'ball drop’. Businesses pay huge sums to put their name in lights there, which means they are paying QSuper members rent.
• Also in New York, QSuper has invested in 1745 Broadway, a large mid-town Manhattan office condominium that is home to Random House Publishing.

Infrastructure

• QSuper bought into London’s Heathrow Airport in two stages: first in 2011 and then in 2017. The approximately 11% Heathrow Airport equity ownership, on members’ behalf, is the largest of QSuper’s infrastructure investments.
• QSuper also owns Scotland’s number one airport, Edinburgh Airport.
• QSuper invests in Terminal Investment Limited (TIL). TIL is a large, global shipping container terminal business.

US acquisitions

The Bellevue and Falls Church purchases settled in late December 2019 and combine to lift the global real estate exposure in QSuper’s balanced portfolio to above 7%.

QSuper Head of Funds Management, Elizabeth Kumaru said the Bellevue market was experiencing unprecedented leasing activity driven by demand from large technology companies.

The Bellevue property adjoins the site of a new light rail station, which will link to both Seattle and the headquarters of Microsoft in Redmond.

The technology sector in the Seattle area, including Bellevue, is almost twice that for the national economy. Only New York City, with five-times the office floor space, had absorbed more new office tenants since 2010, she said.

The Virginia multi-family complex contains 939 apartments. Its facilities include an outdoor pool, 24-hour fitness centre, onsite salon and convenience store. Its four-storey garage has 1,218 parking spaces.

Ms Kumaru said the residential market of Virginia would be strengthened by strong employment prospects, particularly with the likelihood of Amazon moving its new headquarters to the state.