This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
LANG Walker has scored another major leasing coup, signing KPMG to a 15-year lease at the $1.8 billion Collins Square project in Melbourne's Docklands.
As previously foreshadowed by Property Review, the KPMG transaction is the most significant commercial leasing transaction in Australia for 2013.
KMPG will lease 27,000 sqm, occupying the top 11 floors in the new Tower 2 – the fourth building at the Collins Square precinct. Designed by architects Hassell Studio, Tower 2 comprises 55,000 sqm over 38 levels and will be the tallest tower constructed in Melbourne’s CBD in more than 10 years.
The tower has been designed to achieve a minimum 5 Star Green Star Rating and minimum 5 Star NABERS rating, with ecological water practices, light filled atriums, tri-generation, and high fresh air rates.
“We are delighted to sign KPMG. Their signing reinforces Collins Square as Melbourne’s leading new commercial, retail and hospitality centre, and we are receiving even greater inquiries off the back of the KPMG signing,” Walker Corporation’s chairman Lang Walker said.
He added that Collins Square is already home Marsh Mercer, Commonwealth, Sladen Legal, the Australian Taxation Office, Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute, Regus, Penguin Random House, and Pearson.
“It is expected that the fourth tower will be home to a number of large multinational firms looking for a balance of staff amenity, public transport connections with large efficient floor-plates,” he added.
Walker said 97% of existing commercial space at Collins Square is leased.
Pepper Property’s Greg Smith undertook a national strategic review of KPMG’s property requirements to ensure their long-term accommodation requirements in Melbourne were met.
“Our move to Collins Square is a bold statement about the next generation of KPMG in Victoria, and aligns with our aspiration to create the workplace of the future. As work styles and practices evolve, we want to be able to work in new and agile ways that will enrich our employee and client experiences – and this state-of-the-art, purpose-built building will allow us to do just that,” KPMG Australia CEO Gary Wingrove said.
Early works for the new 55,000 sqm office tower have now commenced with completion anticipated for late 2016. KPMG expects to move into the building in early 2017.
Property Review
