Tabcorp bets on Collins Square move

Veteran developer Lang Walker has clinched another tenant for his $2.5 billion Collins Square project in Melbourne securing gaming giant Tabcorp for the recently completed Tower 2.

Tabcorp, long flagged as a potential merger partner for rival Tatts Group, has leased four floors covering 9213sqm for a 10-year term in the new office development. The gaming group will move from more than 8000sqm on St Kilda Rd, which will be subleased.

A number of large organisations have consolidated their offices within the Melbourne CBD, according to JLL Victoria head of tenant representation Peter Walsh.

“Tabcorp joins a variety of global tenants including KPMG, Maddocks, NAB, AECOM, Marsh Mercer, CBA, Link Group, Australian Taxation Office, and Transurban, who are existing occupants of the precinct,” Walsh says.

Tabcorp chief financial officer Damien Johnston says the Collins Square office will allow a more collaborative working environment and reduce the group’s environmental footprint.

National Australia Bank’s MLC wealth management business has also been flagged as a likely tenant at the Collins Square project.

Tabcorp will move into Lang Walker’s Collins Square Tower 2.

The workforce in the Docklands precinct has been forecast by Vic Urban to reach 80,000 by 2025, JLL notes.

Around 755,600sqm of office space is occupied in the precinct, with the likelihood that Docklands already houses a workforce of around 60,000, which is well ahead of forecasts, according to JLL research director Annabel McFarlane.

Walker Corporation in April decided to retain the landmark office precinct after a sales process run by investment bank UBS drew bids from heavyweights including AMP Capital and LaSalle Investment Management. The company later undertook a $1 billion refinancing of the development.

Builder Brookfield Multiplex has recently completed the $300 million Tower Two at 727 Collins St.

The 38-storey office tower is the second Brookfield Multiplex has completed in the precinct, with the firm also building the $205 million 25-level Tower One in 2013.

Collins Square is one of the country’s top commercial developments with a total of five office towers and the refurbished Goods Shed South.

This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.