Office

James Packer’s Crown Resorts has proposed reorienting a major site in Melbourne where it once ­planned a $2bn hotel and apartment scheme into a new tower with a major office component.

If we have learnt anything this year, it’s that the pandemic has been good news for some corners of business. Think Officeworks, where everyone rushed to buy a printer and a chair when they were banished from the office. Then there was Bunnings. And plant nurseries, and on and on.

The owners of the iconic former headquarters of pharmaceutical giant Roche on Sydney’s northern beaches have won council approval for a $44 million redevelopment of the site.

The country’s largest office landlord Dexus has issued a call for corporate Australia to get its workers back behind their desks saying that city buildings across much of the country are safe for white collar jobs and warning that not being at work could hold back a recovery.

A leading advisory firm has a new Geelong home after starting a 10-year lease in Ryrie Street.

The world has changed in the last six months.

Investors are continuing to seek assets with development upside, with a number of potential development sites featuring amongst Australia’s most-viewed commercial properties.

Sonya Alexander is anything but gloomy about the future of central business districts.

Blue-chip companies and advisory firms are seeking to sublease space in key city towers as the coronavirus crisis hits home for corporate Australia.