Co-working hub to anchor Rich Lister's $70m Melbourne tower
United Petroleum co-founder Eddie Hirsch has cashed in on the resurgent co-working industry, after securing The Hive as the anchor tenant for a $70 million office tower under construction in Abbotsford in Melbourne’s inner north-east.
The Hive, part of the newly formed Flexi Group which has co-working hubs in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Australia, has agreed to lease 2285sq m – almost a third of the 10-storey tower at 222 Hoddle Street – being developed by the Rich Lister’s Hirsch & Faigen development company and due for completion in June next year.
Demand for co-working space has picked up amid the faltering return to the office by companies and the now entrenched popularity of hybrid working arrangements meaning more businesses are unwilling to commit to long-term leases, or require less fixed space.
Alongside Flexi Group, which includes two other brands Common Ground and The Cluster, operators such as Rich Lister-backed Creative Commons, Workspace 365, Hub Australia and The Common are all expanding their footprints.
The Hive co-working hub in Abbotsford will be its third location in Australia when it opens next year, said Flexi Group CEO Chris Edwards.
“The Australian market, and particularly Melbourne where we have an established footprint, is primed for further growth in the co-working space as businesses adapt to an increasingly dynamic environment where flexibility has become critical to growth,” Mr Edwards said.
Hirsch & Faigen’s principal, Ben Hirsch – Eddie Hirsch’s son – said the Abbotsford tower had been designed to provide flexible workspaces that can be readily adapted for a wide range of industries.
Ben Hirsch added that the tower’s prime city fringe location close to cafes, bars, restaurants and a short walk from transport routes and bike lanes appealed to operators like The Hive.
Other developers of office towers in inner-city and fringe locations have also benefited from the expansion plans of co-working providers such as Peregrine Projects which secured CreativeCubes as the anchor tenant for a $95 million project in Collingwood.
Mr Hirsch and United Petroleum co-founder Avi Silver paid $5.04 million for the 1131sq m Abbotsford site in 2015. Two years later, Mr Silver sold his half share to Mr Hirsch for $2.8 million.
Since then, it has become a project by Hirsch & Faigen, which includes the Hirsch family, Melbourne lawyer Daniel Faigen and Anthony Bueti.
Hirsch & Faigen’s other projects include a 25-level apartment tower near the Pacific Square shopping mall in Broadbeach on the Gold Coast.
The developer is targeting a Five-Star Green Star rating for its Abbotsford office building, which will offer a total of 7350sq m of net lettable area across 10 storeys.
