Billionaire, ASX fund secure next Kmart HQ
In a significant lease deal, Kmart will relocate its Australian headquarters to an office abutting a shopping centre in Melbourne’s Malvern East.
The Wesfarmers arm has committed to 17,000 square metres at 1 Middle Road, nearing completion within the Chadstone – The Fashion Capital mall site, for an initial 12 years.
Following a 2022 agreement with Adairs, initially for 5500 sqm, revised to 3630 sqm – also for 12 years – the nine level A-grade tower is all but full.
Co-owner, Vicinity Centres, has inhouse leasing for its 2.4 million sqm national commercial real estate portfolio; the Kmart deal is the biggest for the Australian metropolitan office sector this year, it said.
Billionaire Toorak property investor and developer, philanthropist, John Gandel, holds the balance.
For future expansions, the pair are continually buying residences abutting the mall, now with a hotel, offices and bus terminal.
The current extension – adding the office Kmart committed to – was announced five years ago (story continues below).
Wesfarmers chooses Chadstone again
Kmart will relocate from 690 Springvale Rd, Mulgrave, owned since 2016 by Stockland.
The commitment comes nearly three years since Wesfarmers chose another office at the Chadstone site – Building 2, Chadstone Place, to move Officeworks’ headquarters. That 10 year agreement kicked in last December.
Other high profile businesses to once have a headquarters at that building include JB Hi Fi – which in 2019 moved to Southbank following its merger with The Good Guys, and Janine Allis’ Retail Zoo which shifted to the Schiavello Group’s M-City, at Clayton.
One Middle Road, as it has been branded, with a porte-cochère entrance, rooftop terrace and end-of-trip facilities, is scheduled for a formal opening in March.
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