The Barwon Business Park develop looms over Barwon River parkland at 45 Riversdale Rd, Newtown. Picture: Arc West
The first strata business park attempted in Newtown’s industrial precinct has set the bar for future developments in the area.
Barwon Business Park has clocked up 16 sales in the $38m Riversdale Rd project, where four offices remain available to purchase.
Gartland Projects managing director Michael De Stefano said the IDS Developments project, designed by Geelong architect Mark Gratwick, was the first attempted along the riverfront to succeed and should give other developers confidence of investing in the precinct that’s been likened to the transition of the inner-Melbourne industrial suburb of Cremorne to a technology precinct.
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Construction of the park’s three main buildings and its separate cafe building is complete and IDS Developments has started settling contracts and handing over keys to new office owners.
Mr De Stefano said the milestone means the precinct should soon be a hive of activity once again as businesses begin fitting out their units and moving in.
“We’ll probably find in the next four to eight weeks we’re going to start seeing a number of people move in to the park itself, and it’ll really start activating,” Mr De Stefano said.
Aerial photo of Barwon Business Park and the Barwon River precinct at 45 Riversdale Rd, Newtown. Picture: Arc West
Among the four strata properties available, three offices offer premium riverfront views, ranging in price from $1.95m up to $2.495m.
IDS Developments director Phillip Petch said the precinct was born during Melbourne’s Covid lockdowns, when he was only allowed to wonder the streets of Collingwood and Richmond for an hour a day.
What he saw in those inner-Melbourne pockets was self-contained commercial offices that owners could actually purchase rather than lease and that didn’t exist in Geelong.
The project has changed from its initially plans to meet buyer requirements, one business that secured three offices that were amalgamated to become one large office.
Mr De Stefano said the office park would be occupied by professional services businesses.
“We’ve got developers, a builder, an insurance broker, a mortgage broker, environmental services, financial services, accountants,” he said.
Development of Barwon Business Park at 45 Riversdale Rd, Newtown, has been completed, with units being handed over to new owners ready for fit-out.
Development of Barwon Business Park at 45 Riversdale Rd, Newtown, has been completed, with units being handed over to new owners ready for fit-out.
New images taken since the project was finished show how the project interfaces with the river parkland, and even the quality of the office complexes once they’re fitted out, with features such as riverside balconies and views and office fit-outs that look more familiar in luxury homes.
“The real opportunity now is for people to come and see them because it’s one of those projects where quite often the renders make a development look fantastic, and the reality doesn’t match the expectation. I can sincerely say in this regard the result is better than any of the artistry,” Mr De Stefano said.
Development of Barwon Business Park at 45 Riversdale Rd, Newtown, has been completed, with units being handed over to new owners ready for fit-out.
Development of Barwon Business Park at 45 Riversdale Rd, Newtown, has been completed, with units being handed over to new owners ready for fit-out.
“A lot of people think they’re apartments because of how good they do look.
“It’s not your typical office, they haven’t really skipped in any matter of design or amenity and all that. So it’s come up really well.”
More importantly, this is the first project to be delivered in the Newtown river precinct that’s been spoken about so long about the gentrification after a rezoning.
Future planning changes could see the precinct one day becoming a mixed use commercial and residential area, a shift Mr Petch said would result in rising property values.
But the economics of building something like Barwon Business Park today simply doesn’t stack up the way they did when the project began, he said, amid construction costs rising between five and eight per cent a year.
“If we started building today, we wouldn’t do it as there’d be no margin,” Mr Petch said.
Among the major tenants announced for the business park at M Group Geelong and Custom Neon.