Originally, the Chinese sovereign fund CIC was in due diligence to buy the Dexus stake, but after a series of issues in China and rising tension with Australia, the fund walked away. CIC still has a 25 per cent stake in the tower, with expectations it will sell it to Blackstone.

Blackstone had been an underbidder for the landmark tower and settled on the deal late on Thursday. It comes as the acquisitive private equity group is also bidding for James Packer’s Crown resorts.

For Dexus, the sale is part of its ongoing strategy to sell around $1.3 billion of office assets and late last month it sold its 383-395 Kent Street, Sydney tower to the Charter Hall-managed wholesale prime office fund (CPOF) for $385 million, being a 1.3 per cent premium to June 2021 book value on a passing yield of 5 per cent.

Amid the capital injection into the hard-hit office sector are a swathe of new leasing deals.

In Melbourne, a Flinders Street office tower occupied by Victoria University has sold to a joint-venture partnership for $80.8 million.

Sydney-based fund manager Marprop and Futuro Capital teamed up to snare the 21-storey building at 300 Flinders Street that is leased to the university until October next year when it will move to a new $400 million campus on Queen Street developed by industry super fund ISPT.

The building was offloaded by Singapore-listed entity Hotel Grand Central in a deal negotiated by Colliers International’s Oliver Hay and Matt Stagg.

The transaction was the second in a month for Marprop after it signed a $315 million agreement in October to buy the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth Hotel, the city’s largest single hotel transaction since 2015.

The Officeworks lease at Chadstone will cover 8000 square metres and will take the tower to full occupancy.

Vicinity chief development officer Carolyn Viney said Officeworks adds to the growing list of corporates setting up office at Chadstone.

“Demand for office space outside Melbourne’s CBD remains high with the ‘work near home’ model proving popular as employers and employees look for locations that deliver the best in work-life balance,” she said.

Rob Joyes, national director of Colliers and Tim Farley, national director of Colliers Tenant Advisory, advised Officeworks on the lease.

The lease deals are supported by the latest Office Occupancy survey by the Property Council of Australia, which showed that the number of Sydneysiders working in the office tripled last month.

Property Council’s NSW executive director Luke Achterstraat said the survey revealed positive signs for Sydney’s CBD with the office occupancy levels increasing from 8 per cent to 23 per cent in November.

“With lockdown restrictions lifting, and a festive summer ahead, there is optimism that these numbers will continue to rise and our economic recovery will remain strong,” Mr Achterstraat said.

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Melbourne’s office occupancy jumped from 4 per cent to 12 per cent, the survey revealed.

Property Council of Australia chief executive Ken Morrison said that while the increases were coming off lockdown lows, the figures were heartening.

“We know COVID-19 and successive lockdowns left our major CBDs deserted, so it’s good news, even at this traditionally slower time of year, that people are heading back to their places of work,” Mr Morrison said.