Chadstone Shopping Centre backs survival of office in new $130m development
The Melbourne mega mall is banking on a post-pandemic shift in the way we work, with plans for a huge new development. See the pictures.
Business
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Chadstone Shopping Centre is placing a major bet the traditional workplace will survive Covid as it pushes ahead with a new $130m office tower.
Chadstone Shopping Centre chief Michael Whitehead said while Covid had fuelled a shift in work-from-home arrangements, it had not replaced the basic need to connect in person at an office.
“People do need to get together – we are social creatures by nature,” Mr Whitehead said.
“People do need to spend time together, they do need to collaborate, they do need to learn from each other and all those sorts of thing that are difficult to do from home.”
The latest investment at Chadstone comes as the nation’s biggest shopping mall, which already boasts three office towers and a five-star hotel, marks its 60th anniversary. The new nine-storey tower, to be called One Middle Road, will contain 20,000sq m of office space.
The building, which will boast a sky garden and childcare facilities, is expected to be completed by 2024.
Chadstone already boasts 33,000 sq m of office space with tenants including major retailers such as Supre and Boost Juice. The new tower is also positioning itself to cater to an expected trend of corporations giving up space at CBD headquarters to create smaller satellite offices in suburban locations in order to provide a shorter commute for workers.
“We do see the rise of the 20-minute city where people want to live and work more closely,” Mr Whitehead said.
“You might find major corporations have a CBD office but then they might also have some hubs around that CBD location where people can go in, collaborate with their colleagues in a work environment and not have to go all the way into the CBD to do that.”
Mr Whitehead said while Covid and its lockdowns had been tough on retail and the wider Victorian economy, the centre was looking to the future with confidence.
“Chadstone 60 years ago looked very different from what it is today and there is always a desire to continue to grow in and around this idea of adding more usages to the precinct,” he said.
“We are very positive about where the future sits. We are really focused on creating great experiences that people want to come to and diversifying usages of our site.”
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