Quintessential Equity’s five-year plan to double $500m investment in Geelong

Quintessential Equity is behind the planned 10-storey office complex at 20 Gheringhap St, Geelong.

Quintessential Equity has reaffirmed its commitment to double its $500 million investment in Geelong over the next five years in a show of confidence in the region.

The commercial property developer’s executive chairman Shane Quinn this week told the Property Council of Australia’s Geelong Outlook event the city was perfectly positioned to welcome more investment.

Next month the company will launch a formal search for tenants in its next major Geelong project, a 10-level office building at 20 Gheringhap St.

RELATED: $300m hotel plan for historic Geelong site

Building start set for Rippleside project

Nine bidders drive ‘crazy’ Belmont result

The building, which is expected to cater for 800 workers, is the final piece in the Geelong Civic Precinct.

It will sit alongside the new $200 million council headquarters, named Wurriki Nyal, due for completion in the middle of this year.

Quintessential Equity chief executive office Russell Bullen said there remained a strong appetite for quality office space in the city as it emerged from the pandemic.

He said investing in this sector was a key plank of enticing workers that would secure the region’s long-term prosperity.

Quintessential Equity’s Shane Quinn and Russell Bullen (in orange), Wadawurrung elder Mary Shuttleworh and Mayor Stephanie Asher check out construction at the Civid Precinct. Picture: Mark Wilson

“There is such a greater emphasis now on the need to have quality workspaces and it has been talked about being able to attract and retain and keep people in the city,” Mr Bullen said.

“There are a lot of businesses in quite old spaces that don’t have EOT trip facilities, like bike storage and showers.”

He said despite Geelong’s successful diversification into service and knowledge industries it was still “massively under-utilised”.

The Demography Group co-founder Simon Kuestenmacher told the forum the region had emerged from the Covid pandemic as a success story, adding more than 20,000 jobs and growing its population.

The Demographics Group’s Simon Kuestenmacher.

“For every job we lost in Geelong we created five new jobs, this ratio is unheard of in Australia,” Mr Kuestenmacher said.

Much of the growth was driven by Millennials, many of whom brought their knowledge-based jobs with them, and the comeback of the manufacturing section.

He said the challenge was to create and maintain ‘middle class’ jobs, a contracting part of the of the employment landscape.

“You want a strong middle class to actually create social glue in a country and this is easiest done through work and creating middle class jobs,” he said.

“The good news is that infrastructure and construction creates these jobs so if you heavily invest into those sectors we can at least fight back against this hollowing out.”