75 Dorcas St, South Melbourne, will be the new home of Myer headquarters.
Myer has relocated their Melbourne headquarters from Docklands to South Melbourne in the next step to their $864m merger with Apparel Brands and billionaire Solomon Lew.
The nation’s biggest department store chain is upgrading its office space, signing a lease for new digs that span 13,679sq m — the biggest move for an office lease outside of the CBD in Victoria this year.
The retail giant is moving into the 72 Dorcas St building managed by Growthpoint Australia this month, replacing ANZ who had held the lease for the office space previously.
RELATED: David Jones teeters on brink of collapse as analyst warns of closure
‘Grim’: Man’s $7 Kmart act in ‘worst’ Aussie spot
Fight to transform abandoned department store site
Myer Group executive chair Olivia Wirth said the new office location was the first chance to have the Apparel Brands and Myer Group working under the same roof.
“A key part of the integration of the two businesses is having a place where our more than 1000 strong support office team can work and collaborate together as we continue with the creation of the wider Myer Group,” Ms Wirth said.
Apparel Brands was bought by Myer from billionaire Solomon Lew’s Premier Investments, and includes fashion chains from Just Jeans and Jay Jays to Jacqui E, Portmans and Dotti.
Solomon Lew has returned as a board member at Myer Group. Picture: NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw
Myer is the new owner of the company that owns groups like Just Jeans. NewsWire/ David Crosling.
It is thought the deal cost the department store chain with 50 bricks and mortar stores around the country somewhere in the realms of $864m to buy out Lew’s Premier Investments’ ownership of Apparel, with the billionaire’s side then providing $82m as a cash back to support the two business’ integration.
Lew has also returned to the Myer board after being on the Coles Myer board about 23 years ago.
Growthpoint turned the space around for the retail giant in relatively quick order after it was previously home to the ANZ bank’s staff.
“We are very pleased Myer Group has selected 75 Dorcas Street as its new national head office and entrusted us for this important next chapter,” said Growthpoint chief executive Ross Lees.
Myer’s new home in South Melbourne will put it a short distance from other fashion groups including Levi’s.
Myer is Australia’s biggest department store and has about 50 stores around the nation. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard.
Colliers’ Matt Cosgrove represented Growthpoint in the arrangement and said there hadn’t been anything else at that level in recent months, and that he wasn’t aware of any other Myer-sized brands looking to relocate.
“It’s the largest transaction this year in Victoria, definitely outside of the city, which is a positive story,” Mr Cosgrove said.
He noted that there had been a bit of activity around South Melbourne, with jeans and fashion label Levi’s opening their new headquarters in the same suburb earlier this year on Eastern Rd.
Mr Cosgrove declined to comment on what the Myer lease was worth.
Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.
MORE: Development Victoria starts 400 home estate at ex-pesticide testing site