Tenants have been moving into a key Parliamentary Triangle office redevelopment ahead of its official opening next week.
Telstra and multinational IT company Systematic are among the businesses which have been making the move into the redeveloped Anzac Park East building, almost a decade after the site was sold by the federal government.
The building was sold to Amalgamated Property Group in 2017 as part of a federal government push to offload ageing property assets. Anzac Park West, which sits across Anzac Parade, was also sold during this time.
The two buildings were built in the 1960s, and were designed as "portal buildings" which would frame the vista between the Australian War Memorial and Parliament House.
By the time they were sold, however, Anzac Park East had sat empty for nearly two decades, and the government's sale agreement with Amalgamated Property Group mandated that it would be torn down and redeveloped.
Demolition began in 2019, but it was not until 2022 - five years after the sale was finalised - that the National Capital Authority approved plans for a nine-storey mixed-use building, which would include office spaces and more than 300 residential apartments. The ground level of the new building was redesigned into the East Traders Hall, a food precinct which includes a lager house, pizza joint and cafe.
Construction of the new Anzac Park East Building began in 2023 and was finished in late 2025.
The original Anzac Park West building continued to operate as an office space, and is currently fully leased to the Department of Defence. EG Funds, which bought the building in 2017, sold it in November last year for $72.5 million.
The new Anzac Park East building was designed by Canberra-based architects May + Russell to emulate the way the original portal buildings framed the view along Anzac Parade.
It is Canberra's largest mixed-use development, according to Amalgamated Property Group, and was built to accommodate high-security government and corporate tenants.
General manager Daniel Potts said the company was excited about the amount of interested it had received about leasing out the 16,000 square metres of office space in the building.
Telstra had committed to two floors in the building as early as February last year, but there are still full and partial floor spaces available.
Residents have also been moving into the Eastbourne building - the development's residential section - over the past months.
Amalgamated Property Group will continue to manage the property for the foreseeable future through its long-term asset management team, Amalgamated Facilities Group.
"We believe the key to our company's point of difference is that we're actively involved from site acquisition all the way through to long-term ownership of our buildings, and Anzac Park East is no exception," Mr Potts said.
"Our direct involvement in all stages of a project like Anzac Park East provides discernible benefit to our tenants, through elevated responsiveness from our in-house management team, an intimate understanding of the building systems, and continual maintenance of high standards to improve workplace efficiency and the quality of the occupant experience."
