Mirvac adds touch of glass to Collins Street tower
Diversified developer Mirvac is confident Melbourne’s pandemic-hit office market will bounce back in time to absorb 15 floors of new offices it plans to add to a tower it owns at 90 Collins Street.
The $10 billion ASX-listed developer will refurbish the existing 21-storey office building on the site, but will top it with an extra 15,000 square metres of floor space in an addition designed by architects Fender Katsilidis.
The end value of the completed project will be around $650 million.
The 1980s building in Collins Street’s sought-after Paris end is home to multiple tenants, including Banner Asset Management, the British Consulate, Greencape Capital and Adam Bandt MP among others.
Mirvac’s general office manager Andrew Butler said the group planned to keep tenants in the tower while it was refurbished and extra layers built. “The tenants that want to be there, we’re obviously keen to keep them.”
The group’s plans demonstrated its confidence in the strength of Melbourne’s office market.
“Things are still tough out there no doubt about that, but we’re talking about a 2025 timeframe and we expect everything to have settled down by then,” he said.
“We believe that high quality, tech-enabled office spaces with best-in-class sustainability credentials will be in high demand in Melbourne, as the city continues to open back up following the impacts of the pandemic.”
The developer’s tower is next door to Dexus’ $1.5 billion redevelopment of 80 Collins Street, where it added a 45-floor south tower and the 225-room Next Hotel Melbourne.
Dexus recently gained approval to upsize plans for another tower it is proposing to build on the site of the former RBA building at 52-60 Collins Street where it intends to demolish the existing 15-storey structure.
Once it is refurbished and has new levels added, Mirvac’s new building will accommodate a 3500 strong workforce. It will connect to Alfred Place, a laneway cut-through to Little Collins Street. The plans will need to be approved by Melbourne Council.
Mirvac scooped up 90 Collins Street as part of a $584 million seven-property deal with GE Real Estate Investments in 2013 that included five Sydney offices and Allendale Square in Perth.
The developer recently gained planning approval to refurbish another building it owns at 380 St Kilda Road, boosting its $12.9 billion commercial and mixed-use development pipeline.
It also has advanced plans for a development at 7 Spencer Street and another at 303 La Trobe Street.
“We feel very confident tenant demand will return,” Mr Butler said.
