This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
ANZ Bank will likely renew the lease for its call centre at South Melbourne after confirming it will not move the operators jobs overseas.
Industry sources told Property Review that the landlord, Investec – a subsidiary of South African bank Investec Group, is confident that ANZ will exercise its option at 75 Dorcas St.
The bank’s current lease is due to expire in early 2015 and it has 4 + 4 years options, however earlier this year it put out a requirement for a new 20,000 sqm building because it was trying to negotiate a better deal.
Sources said ANZ is currently paying rents substantially below market and if it exercises its option, that would trigger a market rent review, which see the bank pay the market rate in South Melbourne, which is currently $300-$350 per sqm.
There were a rumour that the bank would close the call centres in South Melbourne and Mulgrave because it wanted to move the jobs to the Philippines and New Zealand.
A draft proposal leaked in June revealed that the bank was going to sack 340 staff at Mulgrave and 250 in South Melbourne as part of the consolidation of its operations.
However last week the bank confirmed to the Finance Sector Union that it would not make that move following a community campaign.
Property Review contacted the bank for comment.
Sources said the bank might have left the decision to move, too late, because a developer would be hard pressed to build a new building and have it ready for ANZ in early 2015.
In addition, the asking rents for premium locations like Docklands is approximately $440-480 per sqm compared to $300-$350 per sqm in South Melbourne.
Property Review
