MinterEllison recently advised Australian Unity to enter into a conditional contract of sale to sell its leasehold interest in the Brisbane Club Tower at 241 Adelaide Street for $31.5 million to a consortium owned by Charter Hall Group and Abacus Property Group.

The consortium held by Charter Hall and Abacus has also entered into a conditional contract with the Brisbane Club to acquire the freehold interest at 241 Adelaide Street for $32 million, which brings the combined value of the two deals to acquire the Brisbane Club Tower to $63.5 million.

The real estate team at MinterEllison worked closely with Australian Unity to traverse a number of unique tenure issues arising due to the interrelated nature of the leasehold and freehold sales, as well as the involvement of the Brisbane Club in its capacity as both owner and part occupier of the building.

The firm's lead partner on the project, Adrian Rich, commented: "We were delighted to assist Australian Unity on the conditional contract of sale to sell its leasehold interest in 241 Adelaide Street, Brisbane."

"In transacting a leasehold asset such as this, a number of unique and complicated matters were raised that don't usually appear in a traditional freehold sale scenario. We were pleased to be able to traverse these matters with our client, and the buyer consortium, in a sensible and commercially pragmatic way. We look forward to assisting Australian Unity in seeing this matter through to completion later this year."

MinterEllison has held a longstanding relationship with Australian Unity over many years in relation to the property, having advised on all aspects of its leasing over the course of Australian Unity's ownership, including during the recent COVID-19 pandemic response period.

More broadly, MinterEllison has advised Australian Unity across its commercial, residential and retail businesses, having recently partnered on the redevelopment of the Herston Quarter, a landmark $1.1 billion aged care, health, residential and retail precinct in Brisbane.

The work on the Brisbane Club Tower project was led by partners Adrian Rich and Cameron Charlton, together with Andrea Frank and Ruth Sainsbury.