ONE of Newcastle's newest office space developments is edging closer to completion.
Swift on Hunter at 653 Hunter Street in Newcastle West celebrated its topping-out milestone at a rooftop ceremony on Wednesday with Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes in attendance.
The project is in the final stages ahead of its scheduled completion in September.
"The roof went on last week which is what we are celebrating to mark the structure of the building being complete," Swift On Hunter developer Altim Property director Ian Summers said.
"It is a big milestone for the project, with the structure being the key element and from there we will move into services, facade and fit out."
Swift on Hunter is billed as the first A-grade strata office building in Newcastle which allows small businesses to own their own premises.
It has 24 office suites ranging from 98 to 636 square meters which are priced from $895,000.
A total of 19 suites are already sold.
Mr Summers said the majority of buyers are owner-occupiers, with only three of the office suites purchased by investors.
"Around 85 per cent are owner-occupiers," he said.
"For this kind of strata office development, there hasn't really been any built in Newcastle before.
"The whole essence of the building was trying to design suites for small business to own their own office rather than being a tenant in someone else's building.
"We are happy to achieve that."
Altim Property has five projects underway in various stages that also target owner-occupiers.
"We are really pushing that perspective where we want small and medium businesses to buy their own premises rather than be tenants," he said.
"That's really at the core of what we're doing."
The nine-storey building includes the ground floor with parking and a cafe, three levels of car parking and five levels of office space.
The project received DA approval in December 2021 and construction of the building began in late 2022.
"It's a little over two years from DA approval and we are topping out the structure," he said.
"It has been a pretty tough environment for construction, so we are very pleased with that."
A diverse range of tenants includes Newcastle-owned businesses such as Sherwood Coffee, plastic surgeon Dr. Andrew Raymond, graphic design studio Design Bug and Cougar Mining.
"The calibre of small and medium businesses showcases the versatility and demand for A-grade commercial suites in Newcastle," he said.
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