Woodside Petroleum has confirmed it will be the anchor tenant at Capital Square, signing a memorandum of understanding with the site’s developer, AAIG.
A spokesperson said the oil and gas giant would shift its headquarters to the old Emu Brewery site once construction was complete on a new office tower, expected to be by the end of 2018.
It is understood negotiations are ongoing between Probuild and AAIG for the major works package at Capital Square.
Probuild is currently performing preliminary site works for the first stage of development.
The site has development approval for a 31-storey office tower, a 120-room hotel as well as a 41-storey residential tower.
The office tower will include a 400-seat auditorium, an extensive rooftop garden, crèche facilities, a wellness centre with gymnasium and a swimming pool, as well as room for 700 bikes, 1,000 lockers and 70 showers.
However, the City of Perth is yet to issue a building licence for anything more than the forward works program.
AAIG purchased the site, which has been one of Perth’s most contentious vacant development plots, in 2010 for $49.5 million.
Woodside’s move is likely to raise questions regarding who will take up the oil and gas giant’s office space at the $250 million Woodside Plaza, which comprises around 40,000 square metres.
Other major tenants at Woodside Plaza are law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth, which resides in 2,143sqm on level 14, but that lease expires later this year, and accounting firm Deloitte, which has a 3,400sqm lease that expires in January 2016.
Both firms, as well as construction giant Brookfield Multiplex, are slated to take up around 40 per cent of the second tower at Brookfield Place, which is currently under construction.
The building is owned by DEXUS Property Group, which has offices on level 15. DEXUS is also partnering with Leighton Properties to deliver Perth’s largest new office precinct, Kings Square.
