This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
PROPERTY funds manager Castlerock has entered into a long-term lease agreement with the Victorian government and will deliver a new $49 million office building in Melbourne’s Frankston.
The new building will be developed on the former Frankston International Motel site at 383 Nepean Highway and will accommodate more 450 employees from the Victorian government.
Construction of the building will begin at the end of the first quarter 2023, with completion by mid-2024. It will be developed within Castlerock’s existing Auslink Property Trust No.2 which holds approximately $525 million worth of government-leased assets, including the recently purchased Icon building in Ipswich and the Latrobe Valley GovHub development completed in 2020.
Also in 2020, Castlerock bought the Australian Taxation Office building in Wollongong for over $57 million and the Queensland government tenanted Verde Tower in Townsville for $93 million, setting a record commercial property transaction for the state’s far north.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to develop another building in concert with the Victorian Government, a building that goes hand in hand with the Frankston Council’s mission to drive growth in the community by generating investment and creating local employment opportunities,” Castlerock managing director, Adam Bronts said.
Castlerock is aiming for the building to be “the greenest in the Frankston CBD”, and said a core focus of the building is to incorporate “CBD quality” end-of-trip facilities, including 50 bicycle spaces, e-scooter parking and charging facilities, locker rooms and showers among more features.
Frankston train station located only a short walking distance from the development along with a bus stop immediately out the front.
Castlerock said the building design is based on the locally known Eastern Great Egret bird. “With large wing spans, the building offers two distinctive spaces that spread out from the main entry and the ‘heart’ of a two-storey atrium,” it said.
Castlerock securing the tender comes as construction begins on the $1.1 billion redevelopment of the Frankston Hospital, and after developer Pace submitted plans for a $150 million apartment tower on a former cinema site nearby, while Vicinity Centres has approval to build a $120 million office tower above its Bayside shopping centre in the suburb.
