Melinda Graham

Melinda is a specialist corporate real estate lawyer. She has substantial experience in the property industry and advises on significant property acquisitions and disposals, mixed use and residential development projects, corporate real estate and leasing for property companies and many corporations whose core business is not property.

Coming from a corporate and banking background Melinda is able to add significant value to real estate aspects of mergers and acquisitions, including property due diligence across multiple states and the assignment of national leasing portfolios.

She prides herself on providing pragmatic, commercial property advice and problem solving in the context of property transactions. Her ongoing interest is maintaining the National Property Department as a borderless team providing consistent service levels and efficiencies to our corporate clients with national interests, despite the legal jurisdictional differences.

Melinda is visible in the property industry as a practitioner and through her longstanding relationship with the Property Council and the Property Council Academy, and more recently as a member of the Operations and Facilities Management Professional Development Committee of the PCA. She is a member of the Property Council of Australia and CORENET Global and an associate member of RICS Australasia.

Recent experience includes:

• Acted on the development of “Divercity” at Waterloo, a 30,000m2 multi-tower residential property project, advising Becton Property Group on initial set up, titling, financing and selling of residential and mixed use lots.
• Acted on the development by a private developer of a 187 independent living unit retirement village and 80 bed aged care facility at North Richmond, NSW in its initial development deed with the retirement village operator for whom the development is being built, negotiation of the operational services agreements, resident contacts, ground lease, and advice on community titling, negotiation of finance documents and building contracts.
• Acted on negotiations for Austral Brick Company on the compulsory acquisition by Transgrid of a substantial easement site for the Western Sydney Supply Project: Sydney West – Holroyd 33kV Transmission Line upgrade.
• Acted on the due diligence on and acquisition of an interest in the Australian and New Zealand vineyard portfolio of the Challenger Wine Trust by Hong Kong listed, CK Life Sciences, including the water portfolio and advising on ongoing vineyard acquisitions and related water assignments, financing and participation in the Commonwealth Government On farm irrigation Efficiency Program.
• Acted on the rural acquisition of Wirribilla Farm from Clyde Agricultural Pty Limited.
• Advising a mining company on its land access obligations and drafting a suite of pro forma documents for land access in NSW under the Petroleum (Onshore) Act.
• Advising Quintessential Equity Pty Ltd on the $12.7 million acquisition of a commercial office building at 166 Epping Road, Lane Cove, Sydney and the acquisition of an industrial property at Ingleburn, NSW with a site area of 65,690sqm for approximately A$17 million.
• Acting in relation to the leased property portfolios of Brambles, Chep, Recall, Sandvik, Sunbeam Corporation, Fossil, McCann Worldwide, Morgan Stanley, Macquarie Bank, LinkedIn, Accolade Wines, Kaplan Australia, Valspar Automotive, George Weston Foods including
  - Negotiating head office leases and subsidiary office premises leases and subleases,
  - Documenting the delivery of design and construct purpose-built premises by way of agreements for lease,
  - Non-core asset property redevelopment projects, and
  - Documenting strategic sales and leaseback arrangements of redundant sites.