By Martin Vedris and Ian Neubauer
SYDNEY: Harvey Norman chairman Gerry Harvey commented to Current.com.au about his company’s $500-milliion redevelopment of Perth’s City West commercial and entertainment complex.
“We’re building 78,000-square-metres of office [space] there. It’s an office development and we will also have retail there as well,” he said. “The site covers several acres. It’s a very hot site … right next to the railway station.”
City West currently comprises 30,000-square-metres of retail and office space situated a few minutes drive from the Perth CBD. The complex is home to Perth’s Scitech Discovery Centre and a large Harvey Norman store.
Harvey said he is embarking on the project to capitalise on Western Australia’s booming economy and the undersupply of lettable space in the state’s capital.
“There is no vacancy there at the moment,” he said, referring specifically to City West. “In Perth it is chock-a-block. I am just building this office block and it won’t be ready for a year and a half and it’s all let now because Perth is booming.”
Harvey said the site would be worth more than a billion dollars when completed in 2009.