DWS circles office project for vitamin giant Swisse Wellness and skincare brand Aesop

Aesop had planned to shift into another development but changed plans and will occupy 88 Langridge Street in Collingwood.

Global real estate investment manager DWS is circling an office development which will be occupied by vitamin and supplement giant Swisse Wellness and skincare brand Aesop, striking a near $80m deal on the Collingwood office building being developed by Peregrine Projects.

The deal for the project at 88 Langridge Lane shows that Melbourne office stock is still shifting in the face of higher interest rates with more investment sales expected before year end.

Bidders are also chasing Mirvac’s 367 Collins St, Vantage’s St Collins Lane, and Impact’s 54 Wellington office development in Collingwood that is asking $160m.

Aesop had planned to shift into that development in the inner-city suburb being developed by Impact but that was hit by cost overruns stemming from issues at now-collapsed builder Grocon and instead went to the Peregrine development.

Swisse is owned by Hong Kong-listed nutrition giant Health & Happiness and is shifting from another Collingwood site.

Langridge Lanes is being sold via real estate agency Cushman & Wakefield but it and the parties declined to comment.

Aesop is also to occupy an office-warehouse property at neighbouring 23 Waterloo Rd as its new products testing centre, which will see it take up about 2500sq m in the overall 7800sq m Langridge Lanes development.

Other tenants include co-working company CreativeCubes, which will also accommodate food delivery company Providoor.

The deal will expand the holdings of DWS in Australia. It struck a joint venture last year on a Consolidated Properties Group project in Brisbane. That A-Grade office building at 895 Ann St, Fortitude Valley, is a $260m development on behalf of a European real estate institutional fund managed by DWS.

The development project is expected in the first quarter of 2023, with CPG appointing top Queensland building contractor Hutchinson Builders.

The A-grade office building, designed by John Wardle Architects, is the first of its kind in the James St precinct, and will comprise almost 24,000sq m of net lettable space, across 15 levels.

DWS this week appointed George Anastasiou as head of real estate, Australia, to oversee its local growth. He has overall responsibility for the direct real estate business in Australia.

Representing DWS global real estate fund and separate accounts business, Mr Anastasiou will focus on capital deployment and execution and will be supported by a team of local real estate professionals.

He has more than 11 years of industry experience and was previously head of Australia with MEC Global Partners Asia, part of the Mitsubishi Estate Group, where he helped establish and manage the local real estate business and portfolio.