486 Murray Street, reimagined.
FROM EMPTY WAREHOUSE TO CREATIVE ENGINE: 486 MURRAY STREET REIMAGINED
Perth, Australia – 486 Murray Street, formerly occupied by architecture firm Buchan Group, is being repositioned as a 600sqm arena for artists, makers and cultural operators to create, collaborate and occupy space in real time.
The project is supported by Cygnet West, Western Australia’s largest independent commercial real estate agency, whose Pop Up Place programme has been instrumental in advancing more flexible, activation led leasing across Perth’s CBD and beyond. By actively working with landlords to test short term uses, the initiative has helped shift vacancy from a holding pattern into something more productive. 486 Murray Street builds on this approach, applying similar principles at scale through a model that prioritises flexibility, density of use and continuous activity, while demonstrating how adaptive leasing can support both asset performance and city vibrancy.
These are assets caught between chapters, no longer fit for their previous tenant profile, but not yet ready for what comes next. Rather than sit dormant, Pop Up Place keeps them alive and adding value for both owners and visitors. Bringing in ‘Monsters As Friends’ introduces a different kind of occupier. Shared artist workspaces, filming and content production, workshops and small-scale exhibitions, that rarely find a foothold in the CBD through traditional leasing options. Everyone wins. The plan for future development isn’t compromised, and the city benefits from grassroots creative energy in the meantime.
“Leaving space empty is often seen as the safer option, but this comes at a cost” said Dru Mincher, CML Commercial Manager at Cygnet West. “Short-term activations can create real value, rejuvenating interesting and sometimes forgotten spaces across the Perth CBD. This is just one of a number of our collaborations with Activate Perth”.
At the centre of the project is Steve Browne, founder of Monsters As Friends, who will take on the head lease of the building. Rather than a single tenant model, Browne will sub lease the space across a network of creatives, effectively filling every corner of the warehouse with activity.
“This isn’t about fitting into a traditional tenancy model,” said Browne. “It’s about creating a space that people can actually use, where ideas are tested, things are made, and creatives are not priced out before they have even started. The goal is simple, keep the space alive and let the people in it shape what it becomes.”
This approach deliberately challenges the traditional commercial leasing model, replacing long term risk with short term experimentation and a higher density of use. The building itself will retain elements of its architectural past. The original reception area will remain largely intact as a nod to its previous life, while other areas will be reimagined, including a potential ball pit installation where a former water feature once sat.
Activate Perth has played a key intermediary role in bringing the project to life, connecting landlord, agent and operator while providing strategic support and visibility to ensure the concept lands successfully.
“Activate Perth’s role is to represent the people who are often locked out of the commercial market and put them in front of the right opportunities,” said Benita Ferrari, Activate Perth. “Through Fill This Space, we are not just filling vacancies, we are advocating for creatives and creating a pipeline into the CBD. When that pipeline aligns with programmes like Pop Up Place, you start to see a more coordinated approach to activation, where landlords, agents and operators are all working towards the same outcome of a more active and commercially viable city.”
By enabling a single creative operator to curate multiple occupants within one footprint, 486 Murray Street becomes more than a tenancy, it becomes infrastructure for the city’s creative economy. The project also signals growing confidence from the property sector that unconventional, community led uses can deliver real value, culturally, economically and reputation-ally, in areas impacted by high vacancy.
As Perth continues to grapple with empty retail and office stock, 486 Murray Street offers a working example of what happens when risk is redistributed, control is loosened and space is handed back to people who will actually use it.
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PhotographerBen Ford
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