In response to a tender for 14,000 sq. m. of office space in central Dandenong, VicUrban is currently seeking a developer to use some of its land holdings for the tender.
14,000 sq. m. is no small amount. It's about the same amount of space that the currently under construction government services building will provide. That building is 8 storeys high, though the land parcel is larger than VicUrban's other parcels. On a more typical VicUrban parcel, 14,000 sq. m. would amount to at least 10 storeys. Aside from height, that amount of office space would house a significant number of workers — perhaps 1,000 or so — which would be an immense boost to local hospitality and retail.
I thought I would take a look around to see if I could find out which company was involved --- but it turns out it's not a company but a government department. In fact, according to this tender page, it's the Australian Tax Office.
The ATO already have a (rather visible) office building in Dandenong, though apparently it's lease on that building runs out in December 2015. According to the tender documents, they are looking for a new or an existing building that fits their requirements, but given the long list of requirements, I'd imagine only a new building would suit. What's more, they're looking to be single occupiers and for floor plates greater than 1,500 m2 (so that returns us to roughly the 8-9 storey range). I hope that single occupation does not mean no ground floor retail, as that would be a very poor outcome for Dandenong. The first ATO building made that colossal mistake — I would not expect it to be repeated!
Overall, it's hard to assess whether this development would be a win or a loss for Dandenong. Other than adding a new building to the skyline and contributing to more construction activity, I cannot see any further benefits at this stage. And while it would make a lot of existing office space available to the business market at a cheaper rate than new office space can be made available, I'm not sure price is what's keeping demand for office space in central Dandenong down.