Demand for boutique office space booms
An artist’s impression of an office within Ruby House, Bay St, Double Bay, set to be complete in early 2025.
Demand for CBD office space may have cooled since Covid but boutique developments on the city fringe are red-hot.
Just take the 25 office suites being sold off the plan at Fortis Group’s Ruby House for example, launched this week in Double Bay, which are tipped to walk out the door.
Construction has already started on the four-storey building that will house the 70sqm to 550sqm spaces, with an average sale price of $3m at 2-10 Bay St, with completion in early 2025.
“There has not been a brand-new strata sell-down in Sydney of luxury commercial suites since 2009,” says the sales agent, Ben Stewart of Stewart Properties.
MORE:
Audio king’s savvy sub-penthouse addition
Fintech guru’s 200 per cent gain
Ruby House is to be located in a popular spot.
Designer finishes in a village environment.
“People love the village atmosphere of Double Bay close to home and family and there are 91 underground car spaces at Ruby House,” Stewart says.
The building is designed by Lawton Hurley with interiors by prominent mutli-disciplinary design studio Woods Bagot.
Each office suite features a lobby with stone finishes, concierge … even a sauna.
The building offers hotel-style communal “wellness facilities” and private terraces with plenty of natural light and views of the harbour.
And Bay St is becoming increasingly popular, partially because of Fortis’s other commercial assets there.
Rooftop terrace pleasures.
The grand entrance.
Global luxury home furnishings brand RH (formerly Restoration Hardware) is set to open a flagship gallery and rooftop restaurant at 19-27 Bay Street (opposite Ruby House) in late 2025.
And Neil Perry is unveiling a new three-storey Asian eatery, ‘Song Bird’ and New York style jazz bar, ‘Bobbie’s’, in collaboration with Linden Pride of New York’s award-winning ‘Dante’, at 24 Bay Street by mid-2024.
Stewart says strata office supply in Sydney’s CBD has dropped 25 per cent over the past five years, thanks to compulary acquisition of multiple assets for the Metro as well as amalgamations for the Tall Tower redevelopment.
Cosy spaces in winter.
“Furthermore, Sydney City Council are now discouraging strata subdivision within the Sydney City LGA,” he adds.
Harry George, Associate Director, CBRE, says the restriction of supply is holding values and also driving demand for strata offices, pariticularly in amenity-rich city-fringe areas such as Double Bay.
Situated in the heart of Double Bay village, the site boasts excellent amenities and transport options, offering easy access to the Double Bay ferry wharf and a short 10-minute walk to Edgecliff train station.
