A Historic Beauty Re-awakens In The Revitalised West End
The Age
Wednesday July 21, 2004
THE best asset of the New Zealand Loan & Mercantile Agency Building (1910) is the high technology that towers threateningly around it.
The more the better. Bring it on. As a frame for its historic beauty.Miraculously, the wrecker's ball never tackled the massive granite foundations of dainty 538 Collins St. Well-preserved and now protected, Historic Listing 478 looks forward to the next 100 years as a haven _ potentially offering the intensive office population some relief in a retail arcade, restaurant and lively bar.Its natural cladding offsets the mix of modern concrete marvels on other corners, which include the Rialto, the Australian Stock Exchange and Enterprise House _ a 24-storey office block built in 1975.No lifestyle or after-hours frivolity was in the original plan by architects Oakden & Ballantyne except the hope that it would live for centuries. It lived. Now it's a win-win scenario for all parties, at the corner of King Street.Number 538 re-awakens to find itself positioned in the middle of Collins Street (considering the effect of Collins Street extension to Docklands) and sized and styled nicely to present a mix of prestige centre-city retail attractions.Armani, Tiffany, Florentino _ products like that _ could fill the ground floor and basement. Prestige hunts for historic buildings.However, a retailer of office consumables has expressed interest to snaffle the space, at reduced rental, to capitalise on Collins Street foot traffic funnelling into Spencer Street station a block away.Upstairs, the anchor tenant is an international telecommunications company which has just re-let, in the face of more modern attractions, because the HQ core execs like it there."The style of the building is a blend of late Federation/ early Edwardian and it has got a little mix of Deco in there," says Peter Wright, the architect commissioned to redesign and refurbish the basement and ground floor (including a mezzanine) for flexibility."It has got the granite, the sandstone, the red brick. Some weirdo has thrown a curve ball with the decorative arches _ sort of Deco-y Nouveau-y."It is a beautiful building, in fairly original condition, which really enhances it."The restaurant/wine bar would lead off Collins Street and into to the basement, which enjoys natural light from arches in the granite. Access to the retail arcade will be mainly from King Street, up the higher end of the building.Pre-leasing is being conducted by Richard Thomas, who, notably, enticed the leasing business away from CBD channels to Kelemen Commercial P/L, Estate Agents in Carlisle St Kilda. The proposed areas range from 40 sqm to 1100sqm, with the anticipated average size being 60 to 150 sqm. Tenancy sizes can be varied to suit each, prior to construction.The total area being redeveloped is 1,100sqm. The ground floor/mezzanine is proposed to split to five to eight shops, depending on tenants' requirements. The basement, 510sqm, is to be let as a whole."Expected rentals will be very competitive in the current retail market, which is starved of quality locations," Richard Thomas said this week.Shop fronts will have floor to ceiling glass, or be customised to tenant needs. All floors have lifts and delivery access.Tenants will need to submit expression of interest, and requirements, within the next 60 days. Occupation by incoming tenants is expected to be in six to eight months.
© 2004 The Age