Yahoo Finance The Work Project signs JV with Australian firm Dexus, takes over five new Australian coworking spaces
TWP opened its first Australian co-working space at Quay Quarter Tower in 2022. (Picture: TWP)
Singapore-based flexible workspace operator The Work Project (TWP) has signed a joint venture (JV) agreement with Australian real estate asset group Dexus to form Australian’s first JV-owned premium flexible coworking operator.
The new JV company, The Work Project Sydney, will form with six coworking centres spanning 150,640 sq ft of premium office space across the central business districts in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth.
The 50/50 joint venture of The Work Project Sydney signals the confidence in the flexible office market by TWP and Dexus, as well as the growth potential in this market segment over the coming years, says Junny Lee, founder and CEO of TWP.
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“This joint venture represents TWP's next growth stage and helps fill a much-needed gap amid increasing demand for premium flexible space in prime locations across the region,” he says, adding that the strategic goal is to have the largest footprint of flexible workspace among premium coworking operators in Australia.
“The aim of the JV partnership with Dexus is to achieve a growth target of about 538,000 sq ft in our Australian portfolio over the next five years,” says Lee. The investment required to fuel this expansion will be directly financed by the new JV entity, either through its balance sheet or capital injection, he says. Real estate conglomerate CapitaLand has a 50% stake in TWP after it invested $27 million in the homegrown coworking operator in 2018.
The JV with Dexus will aim to achieve a growth target of about 538,000 sq ft in our Australian portfolio over the next five years, says Lee. (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)
Five new centres, three new cities
At the completion of the joint venture, the operation of Dexus Place owned coworking locations will transfer to TWP, with Dexus Place and TWP each retaining their own brands. As a result, TWP will add five more coworking sites to its Australian portfolio and expand TWP’s presence into three new cities in Australia.
The five new locations that TWP will manage are: 1 Farrer Place, Sydney; 1 Margaret, Sydney; 80 Collins Street, Melbourne; 240 St Georges Terrace, Perth; 1 Eagle Street, Brisbane.
The Work Project made its debut in Australia in 2022 when it opened its first premium coworking location at Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney. It’s Sydney centre spans 46,285 sq ft across two floors. The 50-story Quay Quarter Tower is jointly owned by DexusWholesale Property Fund, Rest Super, and Mirvac Wholesale Office Fund.
“On-demand premium space and services are becoming increasingly important to our customers. Partnering with a highly experienced regional operator enables us to leverage proven expertise to create an exceptional customer offering that helps accelerate the diversification of our leasing offering to include core leasing, flexible workspace, co-working, meeting and event spaces and serviced offices,” says Andy Collins, executive general manager of Office at Dexus Place.
Read also: The Work Project opens first location in Australia
“The co-working space market has evolved dramatically and together with Dexus, we have discovered a collaborative, creative and customer-centric approach to growth,” says Lee. He adds that this type of collaborative partnership model involves developers and specialist operators to offer creative and customer-centric workplace solutions.
6 Battery Road is the site of TWP’s latest premium coworking space in Singapore. (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)
In Singapore, TWP’s home country, the premium co-working operator has achieved its highest revenue per occupied desk (Revpod) due to its stabilised operations in select Grade A commercial properties in the CBD, says Lee.
“In Singapore, we saw a rebound in rates from the second half of 2022 until the end of 2023 as the market recovered from Covid-19 and the return-to-office trend gained traction. There was also a growing demand for quality spaces, resulting in low vacancy rates for premium grade A buildings,” he says.
In November 2022, TWP started welcoming tenants to its latest Singapore centre at 6 Battery Road. The 47,000 sq ft coworking space occupies the third, sixth, and seventh floors in the 42-storey Grade A office building in Raffles Place. The entire space was fully leased by the end of last year.
In Singapore, the coworking operator’s other locations include OUE Downtown, Parkview Square, Capital Tower, Great World City, CapitaGreen, and CapitaSpring. In Hong Kong it has a co-working location in Causeway Bay. “Despite the softening of market revpod in Hong Kong over the past few quarters, we have maintained an above 90% occupancy at our centre in Causeway Bay,” says Lee.
Looking ahead, he says that TWP is actively seeking potential sites and partnerships in key gateway cities such as Tokyo and Seoul. Meanwhile, its new JV in Australia will focus on constructing high-quality co-working centres and providing strategic and comprehensive solutions to occupiers, as well as offer advisory services and solutions on space planning, furniture layout, branding options, and flexible terms to meet clients' workspace needs.
Read also: The Work Project to open 50,000 sq ft co-working space at 6 Battery Road
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