CBRE Lease CBD Rooftop Childcare Centre Along the Famed St Kilda Road Corridor

23 February 2024

CBRE’s Australian Healthcare & Social Infrastructure team have leased their third childcare centre of 2024, this time at the heart of the Melbourne CBD. The Property at 580 St Kilda Road, Melbourne was operated by Guardian Early Learning For the past 10 years who purchased the centre from a previous provider and has a history of success at the top of the privately owned office tower.

Leased by Sandro Peluso, Jimmy Tat and Marcello Caspani-Muto the property featured an existing and modern fit out split across 3 levels. The top floor comprising a indoor/outdoor playscape while the floor below features all classrooms/educational spaces. In a unique twist, the toddler room was 10+ levels below the rest of the centre at the ground floor of the building and adjoining the centres commercial kitchen.

The centre which was licensed for 140 places was leased by Woodlands Early Learning who will take control of the existing childcare license from Guardian. The property was leased on a 10 year term with further options at a commencing rental of $626,895 reflecting $5,700 per child.

Sandro Peluso said “Providers really are operating with split strategies at present. It’s clear some are targeting growth corridors and single level operations while others remain confident in their ability to achieve strong occupancy and charge premium rates for inner city and metropolitan services. This service is a prime example of that, the centre features strong historical occupancy and Woodlands are confident this will remain into the long-term as more and more workers continue to return to the CBD. There is also a notable difference in access for a service on St Kilda Road vs the Melbourne CBD centre were drop-off can become more challenging for parents, even with dedicated points of entry.”

Jimmy Tat added “You will continue hearing about the strength of the early learning leasing market from our team as consistently reducing supply continues to drive demand across the country. Providers are not discriminating between CBD and regional locations. Where this is confidence around staffing capacity there is often multiple providers competing for locations. When a strategic public process is run this resulting in strong outcomes for owners that can still make development feasible.”