OIL and gas giant Chevron and engineering contractor Calibre Global have boosted Perth’s commercial office market, signing major leasing deals in the past two weeks.
Calibre Global this week committed to lease more than 7,000 square metres of space in the St Martins Centre at 50 St Georges Terrace.
St Martins Australian director John Apps said the $28 million refurbishment of the St Martins Centre and the linking of the three properties on the terrace was paramount in luring Calibre Global to take up the equivalent of 10 floors of space.
Calibre, which will take naming rights at 50 St Georges Terrace, will consolidate most of its staff at the new location.
In the other major leasing deal of the past fortnight, Chevron Australia announced last week it had leased more than 12,300sqm at 256 St Georges Terrace, next door to Chevron’s headquarters at QV1.
Savills WA director of commercial leasing Graham Postma, who brokered the Chevron deal, said a number of other large new leasing deals would put pressure on the CBD’s shrinking office vacancy rate.
Colliers International director of office leasing David Cresp agreed, saying options were steadily shrinking for firms looking to position themselves for the next round of growth in a burgeoning economy,
“We certainly saw a problem when the boom hit last time around when people just ran out of space, people ended up taking space at a lower quality than they wanted to take,” Mr Cresp said.
“The smarter companies are now positioning themselves for the next round of growth, making sure that they’ve got enough space, and also making sure they are positioning themselves to be able to attract staff.
“There is no use being in a boom market and being in a secondary location with a secondary office building and trying to attract top-level staff.”
