HWT Bypasses CBD, Options Now in Docklands or to Stay Put

Well placed industry sources say HWT has short listed four unbuilt Dockland buildings to relocate its staff, once its lease at 40 City Road Southbank expires in 2010.

The buildings include 664 Collins Street, to be developed on a skinny site which runs alongside the western edge of the Southern Cross Railway station. The site was recently purchased by Mirvac after its previous owner ABN Amro failed to find a tenant for more than three years.

Other buildings understood to be on the short list, according to sources, are at Lend Lease’s Victoria Harbour, and Village Docklands, being developed by joint venture partners Walker Corporation and the Singapore-based Kuok Group.

A fourth building at Waterfront City, on the northern fringe of Docklands is also believed to be under consideration by HWT executives.

HWT issued an 18,000 square metre office requirement in August last year, canvassing properties in the CBD and Southbank as well as Docklands. Its requirement is the second biggest publicly in the market at present, after the Victorian State Government, which is looking for about 25,000 square metres in those same precincts, sources say.

A spokesperson for Jones Lang LaSalle, which is acting for HWT failed to return our call. HWT is expected to make a decision about its relocation later this month.

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Marc Pallisco

A former property analyst and print journalist, Marc is the publisher of realestatesource.com.au.