Riverside Offices Open in Newtown as Barwon Business Park Sets New Benchmark for Geelong

From a handful of old industrial sheds to A-grade offices overlooking the Barwon River, Phil Petch’s $38 million Barwon Business Park is now open, and with the West Fyans Precinct Structure Plan in play, it may prove the first move in the transformation of one of Geelong’s most prized suburbs.

When Phil Petch walked the empty streets of Richmond and Cremorne during Melbourne’s lockdowns, he wasn’t just killing time. He was looking for a pattern.

“What struck me during those walks was the similarities between Richmond and Cremorne and the Yarra, and Newtown and the Barwon River,” Mr Petch told guests at the official opening of Barwon Business Park.

Five years on, that pattern has been set in steel, glass and river views. The $38 million strata office development by IDS Developments on the banks of the Barwon River in Newtown was formally opened with a ribbon, a round of speeches and the switching on of a custom neon sign, in front of owners, tenants, the project team, Geelong’s mayor and State Member for Geelong Christine Couzens. 

The mayor didn’t hold back. “It’s as good as I’ve seen anywhere in the world, and I’ve travelled a lot,” he said. “It is world-class, no question about it, and you’ve done yourself very proud and done Geelong very proud with a development such as this.”

The story of the site begins well before the pandemic. Mr Petch’s co-director purchased the land in 2012, when it consisted of little more than a few industrial sheds, recognising its long-term potential. In the depths of COVID, he approached Mr Petch, a chartered accountant and founder of IDS Developments to see what could be done with it.

Working with Geelong architect Mark Gratwick, a collaborator of more than 20 years, the pair landed on a concept rarely attempted in regional Victoria: high-density strata offices, designed around amenity rather than just floor space.

The timing, Mr Petch said, proved critical. “With the end of COVID, the role of office in society changed dramatically. All of a sudden, owners and tenants were prioritising modern, high-quality assets over secondary and outdated offices, and more importantly, employees were now demanding well-designed, attractive workspaces in order to entice them back into the office.”

The result is three multi-level buildings comprising 20 individually titled offices and an onsite café, replacing a former warehouse and garages. Each office has its own terrace with views over the Barwon River or nearby parkland, and the development includes 60 bicycle spaces, solar power and EV charging stations.

It hasn’t been a straightforward path. Mr Petch said it took two years simply to get the project ready for market, engaging 21 experts and consultants “ranging in scope from urban designers to archaeologists”.

Finance brought its own hurdle, with the project’s bankers requiring a threshold of pre-sales before construction could begin. Mr Petch credited Gartland’s Michael De Stefano and his team for embracing the vision of quality and design, noting only four offices now remain to be placed.

On the tools, builder Ireland Brown faced a tight, awkward site. “They certainly had their challenges with the constricted nature and sequence of the site,” Mr Petch said, singling out project manager Lachie Keith for special thanks.

The buyer list reflects the calibre of what’s been delivered. Mulcahy & Co Geelong bought three offices off the plan and merged them into one headquarters in collaboration with Mark Gratwick Architects, while M Group secured a four-level headquarters combining three titles to support a 60-person local team. Local entrepreneur Jake Munday, founder of Custom Neon, is also among the owners — hence the neon sign. 

Barwon Business Park lands in a Geelong office market that has long been starved of premium stock. Gartland’s De Stefano has described the region as one that has historically suffered from a lack of true A-grade stock, and a recent analysis by tenant advisory LPC found that the pool of quality A-grade space suitable for smaller commercial tenants is narrow. 

That’s the gap Barwon Business Park was built for: A-grade quality for owner-occupiers and SMEs, outside the CBD towers, with a river out the window.

Mr Petch told owners the fundamentals are firmly on their side. “The demand for commercial property is a direct correlation with employment growth,” he said. “Over the last five years, Geelong experienced employment growth at 4.3 per cent per annum, and this exceeded all comparable cities in Australia.”

Citing Macroplan research, he said that by 2036 Geelong would need the equivalent of 29 Barwon Business Parks to satisfy demand. “I just can’t see that happening.”

The bigger story may be what happens next door. The City of Greater Geelong’s draft West Fyans Precinct Structure Plan, released last month, proposes to rezone much of the surrounding commercial and industrial land to mixed-use residential.

“The real game changer for Newtown is the West Fyans Precinct Structure Plan,” Mr Petch said. “This plan for urban renewal will rezone most of the land in this area from commercial and industrial to mixed-use residential. This will have a significant impact on capital values moving forward.”

The mayor, who had just judged a council competition inviting architecture students to reimagine the precinct, said many Geelong locals still remember it as an industrial landscape. “It’s now slowly coming to fruition and is being discovered as a special place for mixed use, living, working and playing,” he said, pointing to the heritage buildings, ovals and new builds tucked just south of West Fyans Street. “Its time has come.”

Ms Couzens, who turned the first sod on the project, said Geelong’s rapid growth meant businesses arriving in the city needed facilities to match. “I talk to many small businesses who are planning to come to Geelong, and they want to know everything about Geelong because they’re bringing their family as well,” she said. Looking out over the river, she added she hoped residential would follow: “I think it’s under-utilised.”

For Mr Petch, the opening was the end of a five-year run and, he suspects, the start of something larger for Newtown.

“What you see today is the result of so many talented people making a difference to the city of Geelong,” he said. “And with that said, I think I’ll have a beer.”