TWO major deals in the Perth property arena occurred this week.
The first involved a Perth property icon while the other resulted in a major construction firm committing to Perth’s largest leasing deal in five years.
Leading engineering and management consulting group Hatch has taken up 6,000 square metres in a refurbished Supermail building at the corner of Newcastle and Stirling streets.
And eastern States company, the Mirvac Group has ended months of speculation with the announced merger with the Fini Group.
According to Colliers Jardine, which brokered the 10-year leasing deal with Hatch, it will mean moving out of Hatch’s existing offices at QV1 and the Forrest Centre to the 10,000 square metre Supermail building.
As part of the deal, the building owners will gut and refurbish the four-level building.
The refurbishment will see the creation of a completely new, modern exterior, the construction of an adjoining car park and the creation of a gymnasium and rooftop entertaining area.
Colliers Jardine leasing director John Adcock said the deal with Hatch Associates was the most significant commercial leasing deal in Perth and reflected the extremely tight market.
He said as space in the CBD became limited and rents started to be significantly higher than suburban rents, more companies were likely to look at fringe CBD locations.
Hatch, an employee-owned company is now the second largest engineering company in Australia, employing 1,400 people with a global network of 4,500 people in more than 40 offices.
The refurbishment of the Supermail building is due for completion by July with Hatch Associates taking up the lease from August 1.
As part of the merger agreement, the Fini Group will receive about $14 million and a further issue of approximately six million Mirvac Securities which will be vested subject to the future performance of the WA operations and will give Mirvac access to $257 million of gross sales from Fini’s current projects.
Established in 1956, the Fini Group has become one of Perth’s biggest inner-city residential developers in Perth.
