Surf Coast Social starts to take shape

WORK has begun converting the former Quiksilver headquarters into Surf Coast Social.

In mid-2018, Quiksilver’s parent company Boardriders moved their headquarters from the site on 27 Baines Crescent to Queensland, despite still maintaining a presence in Torquay.

In 2019 a Melbourne-based consortium IP Generation then purchased the site for a reported $15 million. They are now renovating the building to include a brewery, a café, and a serviced office space, having already upgraded the office space for Boardriders employees who still work at the site.

The total expenditure on the project will be about $12 million.

Sou’West Brewery and Workspace365 have also confirmed tenancies at the site.

IP Generation director Chris Lock said the remaining space could be used for a variety of purposes.

“There’s only one other tenancy that’s available, which is the back of the property. There’s 600 square metres that’s left, which is about 10 per cent of the total property. That’s actively on the market for leasing at the moment.

“It’s pretty flexible the floor plate that’s there and could suit an office tenancy, or medical, or wellness style operators. We’ve had enquiries from day spas as well as pilates and yoga operators and gym operators, so there could be various uses in there.”

The eastern wall of the building is being renovated to extend a further 11 metres, creating extra room for the brewery to operate in.

At full capacity, the brewery could have up to 600 people.

A structure will also be built in front of the existing building that Sou’West Brewery will operate as a café.

The new office spaces are expected to be ready by November, having been pushed back a few months from their original opening date due to the coronavirus pandemic. About 80 per cent of the workspace tenancy will be private secure offices.

Mr Lock said the coronavirus had not seemed to dampen peoples’ interest in the new office spaces.

“They’re (Workspace365) already seeking memberships and pre-commitments. They’ve got quite a few signed up for the space.

“This will be by far the best office accommodation on the Surf Coast and I think it will continue to be in demand. I even think, bizarrely, we’ve had an increased level of enquiry through this period for that office, and I feel like that might be for people who were previously commuting into the CBD or Geelong and realised that they can actually work remotely, and might be thinking they will permanently establish themselves on the Surf Coast.”

The brewery may also open this year, with Mr Lock saying it would otherwise aim to open “certainly before Easter next year”.

The original plans for Surf Coast Social also included a five-screen cinema, with the site already featuring an auditorium that could have been converted with relative ease.

However, IP Generation dropped the cinema from the plans in January this year after reaching an impasse with the Surf Coast Shire council over its inclusion in the planning application.

Mr Lock said this was because of the area’s zoning, which he hoped may eventually change.

“The council’s stance is they won’t support it, so it’s been removed entirely from our plans, unfortunately.

“It’s not supported under the current planning. It’s an Industrial 3 Zone, which we felt was open for interpretation.

“I’m hopeful that in the future they will revisit that zoning and look to move it to more of a commercial zone, which would allow for increased entertainment.”