Creative Thinking Drives Office Sale and Major Tenant Relocation

A Hawthorn East office building is set for a major refurbishment after being purchased by the Brisbane-based Garda Property Group for $20,100,000.

CBRE’s Capital Markets Office team of Scott Orchard and Tom Ryan negotiated the sale of 8-10 Cato Street, which occurred during last year’s stop/start Melbourne lockdowns but only settled this month.

The ASX-listed Garda is planning a major repositioning of the building, which was the Australian headquarters of Servier Laboratories (Aust.) Pty Ltd.

The property was purpose-built by Servier in 2001 and occupies two certificates of title. 8 Cato Street is a two-level commercial office of approximately 3,800sqm including warehouse space off Cato Lane. 10 Cato Street provides additional at-grade car parking on 1,150sqm of land with a Commercial 2 zoning.

CBRE Senior Director Scott Orchard said, “Despite stop-start COVID-19 lockdown conditions during the time of the public campaign, our targeted approach generated over 150 qualified enquiries and 30 inspections by local, interstate and international buyer representatives.”

“The structured deal involves relocating Servier’s office to the purchaser’s state-of-the-art building at Botanicca Business Park, Richmond under a new lease. In essence, creative thinking resulted in a highly successful two-pronged outcome that mitigated a variety of risk factors for the vendor and yielded additional upside for the buyer.”

CBRE Director Tom Ryan noted, “The sale metrics represent a strong outcome of $6,700/sqm across the office component of the vacant building, which requires substantial refurbishment. The market responded strongly to the property’s rapidly gentrifying location, with the office space positioned to capitalise on rising tenant demand over the short to longer term.”
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