This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
CO-WORKING space operator Waterman is expanding into major Melbourne shopping centre Highpoint, taking up 4,600 sqm of former in Myer space, as suburban offices remain on-trend and shopping centre landlords look for ways to attract visitors to their assets.
Waterman will move into the space in early 2023 and its newest workspace will include private offices, meeting rooms and coworking desks, and service between 600 and 1,000 businesses at full capacity once complete.
Focused on the suburban market, Waterman operates business centres in Chadstone, Narre Warren and Scoresby, with their newest centre in Eastland Ringwood opening early next year.
“Our rapidly expanding footprint across Melbourne’s suburban ring gives commuters from almost every angle of the CBD the ability to work closer to home,” Waterman’s founder and managing director, Neville Waterman said.
Vicinity Centres and GIC had planned for co-working space to take over 6,000 sqm of former Myer space at the Emporium shopping centre, but CBD venues have been smashed by emptied cities during the pandemic.
| Waterman Business Centres Location | July 31 2020 Occupancy | July 31 2021 Occupancy Current |
| Chadstone | 56% | 93% |
| Narre Warren | 60% | 96% |
| Scoresby | 48% | 90% |
Chris Barnett, head of retail at Highpoint’s ASX-listed owner GPT Group, said, “Our customers don’t just come to Highpoint to experience our retail mix – they come here to play, eat, work out, and be entertained”.
“Waterman’s co-working facility is a great addition as Highpoint continues to evolve as a retail destination providing in-demand services and retailers to our customers, in offering the west of Melbourne a new place to work, meet and conduct business.”
Shopping centre landlords are grappling with the future of their assets in a post-pandemic world on multiple fronts. The threat of online shopping has been turbo-charged since early last year, while concerns over visitation rates due to health concerns and unvaccinated shoppers attending their malls is a current talking point.
Myer has committed to a 10-year lease over a new 40,000 sqm national distribution facility to cater for its growing online shopping sales, while at the same time Prior to the pandemic, handing back floor space and closing stores.
Fitch Ratings believes Australia’s CBD office markets will not see space utilised at the same level as before the pandemic, as part of a structural decline in demand even once conditions normalise. Analysis from PAR Group estimates working from home could sap Australia’s six largest CBDs of 2.2 million fewer office workers each year.
More than 1,200 businesses – or 3,696 individual workers –use Waterman spaces. Waterman said existing clients of the flexible workspace provider had made it clear that consolidating existing leasing arrangements was driving post-pandemic real estate strategies.
“Flexible office spaces in key areas such as Melbourne’s western suburbs – where commuter congestion is among the worst in the city – are the ‘win-win’ solution that businesses have been crying out for.”
In nearby Footscray, the Victorian government is using the 1 McNab Avenue office building as the first of five satellite locations to enable public servants to work flexibly. The asset has just been bought by Centuria for $224 million on a cap rate of 4.7%.
“Cities are more decentralised than ever; peoples’ work-lives are no longer bound to the CBD; and millions of people are realising the benefits of a meaningful work-life balance,” Waterman said.
