Real Estate

Advising on all construction and procurement related aspects of the Grosvenor Project, a $AUS1.7 billion growth project at Moranbah, in Queensland. This project involves over 100 procurement contracts across various disciplines (including supply, major works and early contractor involvement).

Advised Panasonic Corporation from an Australian and New Zealand perspective on its acquisition of Hussmann Corporation, a Missouri-based manufacturer of refrigerated display cases and systems for US$1.545 billion.

Acted for SB&G Hotel Group on its hotel portfolio acquisition from Eureka Funds Management.  The portfolio of hotels includes the Intercontinental Melbourne, Crowne Plaza Melbourne, Crowne Plaza Coogee, Crowne Plaza Canberra and Holiday Inn Potts Point. SB&G Hotel Group is now the largest owner of IHG-operated hotels in Australia, employing more than 800 staff.

Managed the national conveyancing of accommodation units in Lend Lease Primelife's retirement villages Australia-wide – approximately 50 villages across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, involving more than 600 conveyances per year.

Advised the New South Wales Government (NSW Treasury) on the refinancing of Port Botany and Port Kembla in NSW. The project was unique, involving the contemporaneous refinancing and long term lease of two major Australian ports. Our role included extensive legal analysis of the existing assets and businesses and the regulatory landscape; recommending a transaction structure; drafting special transaction legislation; asset restructuring; preparing extensive interrelated transaction documents; tender process and negotiations; and implementation under legal project management. The project was complex and very significant for NSW, with the transaction widely considered to establish a new benchmark in transaction preparation and execution.

Advising the State on all land tenure aspects of the Ord East Kimberley Expansion Project; developing, drafting and negotiating with Chinese proponent and Aboriginal Corporation the underlying land tenure model, including relevant aspects of Development Agreement and a suite of bespoke leases, licences and easements and other instruments; negotiating land access and use arrangements with mining tenement holders to manage overlap of inconsistent land uses.

Advising the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority on all aspects of the Perth City Link Project, including drafting and negotiating the project deed for the development of the precinct, drafting and negotiating a suite of easements and covenants to manage the interface between the proposed above ground development and the underground public transport infrastructure.

Advised Tasmania's Department of Treasury and Finance on a 3-stage divestment process to sell and redevelop Parliament Square, located adjacent to Parliament House and comprising a number of abandoned buildings. Our team prepared the RFT documentation, negotiated the development arrangements and advised on complicated interface issues with the adjoining Parliament House.

Our Ports team is the leading legal specialists in this sector, with key roles advising on all recent major national port refinancing deals. We were the sole legal advisers to NSW Treasury in relation to the A$5.07 billion restructure and refinancing of the State-owned assets of Port Botany and Port Kembla, with proceeds from the transaction to be invested in the NSW Government's infrastructure fund, Restart NSW. The transaction was completed on 31 May 2013 and considered the largest and most complex of its kind in Australia.

Acted for Acciona Infrastructure and Alstom Transport in relation to their successful bid for the delivery of the $2.1bn Sydney light rail project.

Acted for Walker Corporation in its redevelopment of waterfront land at Rhodes, NSW. The development is an estimated A$800 million project which involved a paint factory site being remediated and redeveloped to a mixed-use, high-rise, shopping centre, residential and commercial village.

Advised Westfield Group on a wide range of planning matters in New South Wales (purchase and development of three major CBD retail sites in Sydney, including Centrepoint) and Queensland (development approvals for a new regional centre at Coomera and major expansion at North Lakes Centre, Chermside and Garden City regional shopping centres).

Led the $535million relinquishment of the Sydney Airport Domestic Terminal 3 to Sydney Airport Corporation for Qantas, including the negotiation of priority usage of Terminal 3 for the hosting of millions of Qantas passengers each year for the next decade. This involved the structured relinquishment of approx. 74,000 square metres, including 17 airport lounges gates, 24,000 sqm of office and other leasable space, 51 commercial outlets, three club lounges and 120 valet car parking spaces.

Advised the Port of Melbourne Corporation on the procurement and transactional aspects of Melbourne's Port Capacity Project. The Port Capacity project will enable the port to meet increasing trade demand and protect the economic future of one of Australia's leading freight gateways.

Advised Port Kembla Port Corporation in relation to its project to expand the cargo handling facilities at Port Kembla. The project involved the expansion of cargo handling facilities, redevelopment of the terminal and construction of a new wharf which required dredging in the Inner Harbour. This transaction was widely considered to establish a new benchmark in transaction preparation and execution.

Advised Port of Melbourne Channel Deepening, one of the largest infrastructure projects conducted by the Victorian Government in recent times, seen as critical to the Port and Australia's position in global shipping. As key advisers to the Port of Melbourne Corporation, we advised on many aspects of the project, including the Supplementary Environmental Effects Statement and managed the public hearing process Federal Court litigation over the Federal Government's environmental approval for the dredging, cultural and Aboriginal heritage issues, relocation of essential infrastructure under the Yarra River, the resolution of the alliance dredging contract, and land tenure issues relating to land assets affected by the project.

Advised NSW Government in relation to a major restructure of the State's non-metropolitan rail system which included an investment of A$800 million+ in rail infrastructure by the Commonwealth Government. The arrangements effectively incorporated 3000kms of NSW interstate and Hunter Valley mainline railway track under the same operation and management as the interstate standard gauge mainline railway track. We also subsequently advised on commercial arrangements in relation to the take up by ARTC of the Metropolitan Freight Network and the Southern Sydney Freight Line.

Advising the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) on 357 Collins St, Melbourne. Our role included advising CBA on the design, construction and lease of commercial office space, acting in relation to its negotiation for the design, construction and lease of additional commercial office space to that in the original Agreement for Lease and we also settled claims in relation to CBA's delay damages and advising on contract administration matters involving variation claims and extensions of time claims.

Advising CBA on the design, construction and lease of commercial office space in building 4B which forms part of the Collins Square development in Melbourne. The Collins Square development consists of 4 commercial towers including open plaza areas, secure parking, retail levels and pedestrian access.

Acted for DEXUS Property Group in relation to the $500 million acquisition and development of 480 and 470A Queen Street, Brisbane.  This acquisition and development, described as the largest property deal of 2013, will comprise a 31-level premium-grade office development project across 55,561 square metres located in Brisbane’s Golden Triangle and is targeting 6 Star Green Star and 5 star NABERS Energy ratings.

Drafting and negotiating the Development Deed and associated documentation and issues between SPC and Patrick Stevedores for Patrick's existing terminal and part of the new Terminal 3 at Port Botany.

Advised Australian Childcare Projects on the disposal of its Australia-wide childcare centre development business to a Morgan Stanley real estate investment fund.

Acted for AMP in relation to the acquisition and redevelopment of a 50% interest in 190-200 George Street, Sydney.

Acts for Brookfield in drafting and negotiating commercial leases for CBD commercial towers at 10 Eagle Street, 324 Queen Street and 240 Queen Street, Brisbane, and retail leasing for Portside Wharf and Great Western Super Centre.

The cornerstone of the Brisbane Airport Corporation's infrastructure program for Australia's third-busiest airport is a new Parallel Runway, expected to be completed by 2020. We are currently supporting BAC with the development and implementation of a procurement strategy for Stage 1 of the proposed A$1.3 billion runway.

Acting for Port Waratah Coal Services Limited (a privately owned facility, the largest shareholder of which is Rio Tinto Coal Australia Limited) in the redevelopment and expansion of the Kooragang Coal Terminal and the Carrington Coal Terminal in the Port of Newcastle.

Acting for a wholly owned subsidiary of Frasers Property Australia (formerly Australand Holdings Ltd) on the A$800 million Discovery Point development at Wolli Creek in New South Wales. This 8-hectare mixed use development will feature residential apartments, commercial offices, an integrated retail centre and extensive public and private parklands. We are advising on procurement and OH&S strategies, drafting pro-forma and project specific documentation (such as consultancy agreements and design and construct contracts), assisting in the preparation of the tender conditions, advising on the tendering process and compiling documentation for tender.

Working closely with the NSW Government in procuring the new fleet of intercity trains, including approximately 520 new carriages. It is intended that the trains will be procured off-the-shelf with proven technology, and configured to meet the NSW Government's specific needs. The trains are expected to be delivered progressively from 2018 until 2024.

Advised listed A-REIT Mirvac on the sale of its hotel management business, Mirvac Hotels & Resorts and various associated investments to a consortium comprising Accor Asia Pacific and Singapore-based Ascendas. The complex transaction involved the concurrent sale of the hotel management business and the stake in an unlisted hotel fund which will see Accor take on the management of 48 hotels and also acquire, with Ascendas, a stake in an unlisted Mirvac hotel fund that owns seven properties.

Acted for DEXUS Property Group in relation to the acquisition and development of 3 new mixed-use buildings at Kings Square in Perth. This acquisition and development, which has been described as the biggest commercial property pre-sale in Western Australia with an estimated cost on completion of $434.8 million, will comprise three A-grade office buildings to be developed by Leighton Properties.

Acted for a syndicate of banks and the receivers and managers (McGrathNicol) of the Great Southern Group. We advised on all aspects of the receivership, including a restructuring of the MIS schemes, and a sale of approximately 269,000 hectares of land in the largest private forestry sale by area in Australia.

Acted for the liquidators of eight of the mezzanine finance companies within the Westpoint Group. Debts exceed $320million.

Lead adviser to the Queensland Government on its A$2.3bn divestment and privatisation of the Port of Brisbane. A key component of our work was drafting the 99-year lease concession under which the Port was sold and advising on all real estate aspects of the transaction.

Adviser to the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland (RNA) on the A$3bn redevelopment of the 22 hectare RNA Showgrounds in Brisbane. It is one the largest urban regeneration projects in Australia.

Principal legal advisers to Springfield Land Corporation on the development of award winning Greater Springfield, the largest master planned community development in the Southern Hemisphere in single ownership.