Cairns CBD flexible office hub listed with $15m price guide
According to Knight Frank research, occupier demand is increasingly concentrated in high-quality, well-located buildings offering premium amenities, as businesses seek workplaces that encourage employees to return to the office in a post-pandemic world where work-from-home arrangements became commonplace.
Art Work Spaces at 36 Abbott Street is the perfect example of this type of alluring office space and is currently being offered for sale through an expressions-of-interest campaign with a price guide of $15 million.
Built in 2020, the three-level property spans 2300 square metres on a 1012-square-metre site and is 93 per cent leased. It contains private offices, co-working areas, meeting rooms and informal breakout spaces, supported by reception, IT and other services delivered by an on-site team of three.
Art-inspired architectural design
Designed by Cairns-based Edge Architecture, the building uses a light-filled atrium, extensive planting and intricately perforated external screens inspired by rainforest and natural forms.
Knight Frank Cairns agent Matt Carless said the building’s distinctive appearance reflected the owners’ ambition to create a workplace that was itself a piece of art.
“The concept, when they asked the architect to draw something up, was that the building could be a work of art,” Carless says.
“The owners are art collectors and they’ve displayed pieces they have collected over the years throughout the building.”
While the collection is not included in the property sale, it could be negotiated separately.
Rising demand for hybrid work models
Carless explains that flexible-workspace businesses had expanded significantly during the past decade as companies adopted more mobile and hybrid operating models.
Many occupants are independent professionals or local representatives of larger organisations that did not require a traditional office accommodating 10 or more employees.
“They might only have two people, or they might only need an office for two or three days of the week,” he says.
“What you’ve got is an environment where there are a lot of other people in the same boat. There are professionals and consultants who come together in the common areas, but they also have their own spaces where they can send emails, hold meetings and get their work done.”
Amenities designed for workplace community
The building’s shared facilities include a large upper-level kitchen and a balcony looking north towards the Esplanade and across Cairns. Breakfast gatherings are also held for occupants, encouraging professional connections and the exchange of ideas.
Carless says these social and hospitality elements were an increasingly important part of the flexible-office proposition, particularly after the widespread shift to working from home during the pandemic.
“You become quite isolated,” he says about working from home. “People sometimes fail to realise that a lot of their social interaction comes from work.
“That was driven home during COVID, when people who could work from home had to work from home. It works for the first week or so, but once the novelty wears off, you start wondering who there is to talk to.”
The property occupies a prominent CBD position metres from the Cairns Esplanade and beside the historic former courthouse, now part of the Cairns arts precinct.
The neighbouring courthouse was constructed between 1919 and 1921, replacing the city’s original 1880s courthouse, and retains many of its historic timber courtroom features. It was once a steakhouse and bar, but is now on the cusp of a new chapter, which Carless says he hopes will be another post-work destination for a drink, benefiting the occupants of Art Work Spaces.
