Charter Hall eyes Bunnings HQ in inner-city Melbourne
Busy fund manager Charter Hall is eyeing its next office development project with a mooted plan to create a new corporate headquarters for hardware giant Bunnings in Richmond, not far from the Melbourne CBD.
The proposal revolves around a large site on Swan Street, which runs through Richmond, linking the rapidly growing sub-market of Cremorne and further east the Botanicca office park.
The corner site could become home to a new 13,000-square-metre office tower, according to market sources. Charter Hall declined to comment.
If the plans come to fruition the development would add to a growing stock of institutional grade office stock in Richmond.
Nearby, listed property trust Growthpoint Properties Australia is developing a two-tower project at the Botanicca business park. Growthpoint launched that project on a speculative basis, confident in the strength of the inner-city office market.
Closer to the city, Cremorne, which abuts Richmond, is becoming a hub for the creative and technology sectors. In July property portal Domain became the latest to check into the inner-city suburb, joining other top-tier businesses moving to the area such as Seek, Uber, Reece, Tesla, MYOB and Walt Disney.
Three years ago, the current home of Bunnings’ corporate HQ in Hawthorn East was sold by its private owner to a private syndicate. Not long before that transaction, the Wesfarmers-owned hardware giant had struck another six-year lease at the address.
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The mooted office development for Bunnings would sit well with Charter Hall’s broader strategy, which has been to leverage its relationships with major corporate players across a number of property sectors.
Charter Hall already manages a number of Bunnings Warehouse retail outlets, which are held in unlisted vehicles on its platform.
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