This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
NEWMARK Capital has secured major advertising agency Clemenger Group as anchor office tenant of a revitalised David Jones menswear building in Melbourne’s CBD, in one of the first major offices leases struck in the city following COVID restrictions.
Up to 900 staff from all of Clemenger Group’s Melbourne-based companies and sister companies under the Omnicom Media Group umbrella will be based at 299 Bourke Street.
They will occupy 7,500 sqm over four levels – almost the entire office component of the building that Newmark acquired in the middle of 2020 from David Jones’ parent company Woolworths Holdings for $121 million.
Beauty giant Mecca will be take on the ground and first floor retail space vacated by David Jones, while fashion retailer Rodd & Gunn will open a new store at the building’s rear, facing Little Collins Street.
The building is now about 90% pre-leased ahead of refurbishment works kicking off. Architects Bates Smart have redesigned the building 299 Bourke Street, enhancing the historic Bourke Street Mall frontage with a new shopfront, upgraded canopies and glazed facade, sympathetic to the existing heritage fabric.
Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Sally Capp, welcomed Clemenger Group’s move.
“This is fantastic news for the CBD and a vote of confidence in Melbourne’s future as a thriving economic hub.
“We are experiencing week-on-week growth in our foot traffic as employees return to city workplaces.”
Property Council of Australia data showed office occupancy in Melbourne’s CBD lifted from just 4% in January – during the holiday period and peak of the Omicron wave – to 15% in February, ahead of working from home orders and mask mandates being lifted. That number is expected to pick up in March.
Melbourne’s office vacancy rate has lifted to 11.9% in January from 10.4% in July, as the city grappled with another extended COVID lockdown.
Clemenger Group chairman Robert Morgan said it was exciting for Clemenger Group to return to its birthplace in Melbourne’s CBD. The company’s founders opened John Clemenger Advertising in 1946, in the basement of a building in Bourke Street.
“We are proud to be at the forefront of revitalising Melbourne’s business landscape after the pandemic, becoming the only major marketing and communication company to reside in the city,” Morgan said.
General manager of property at Newmark Capital, Angus Machutchison, said the building’s “mix of functionality, convenience and attractiveness is crucial to attracting workers back to offices and business districts”.
“We see the office and retail facilities at 299 Bourke Street as a focus for drawing people to the city and energising the CBD”.
Colliers and JLL are office leasing agents on the project.
Newmark Capital, founded in 2011 by former Hawthorn AFL star Chris Langford and business partner Simon Morris, is planning a $1.5 billion redevelopment of The Jam Factory in the inner Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, in a partnership with developer Tim Gurner and Qualitas.
