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In one Brisbane real estate office, clients come in for a drink and stay for the top-quality sales team.
When a passerby pulls up outside Place Woolloongabba, there is little to indicate that they are entering a real estate agency.
Entering through the glass doors, one feels they have stepped inside an old-world cocktail bar, judging by the amber-coloured whisky bottles and deep leather seats. Bookshelves cover the brick walls, complete with rows of antique hardcovers and a library ladder. Over the door is stamped a subtle logo – Place Estate Agents: Purveyors of Fine Property.
“It’s not uncommon for people to be wandering in and walk up to us and say, ‘I’d like to order a drink, please’,” said co-principal James Curtain.
In fact, the bar only operates for business events, with the space serving primarily as a comfortable – if unconventional – backdrop for solidifying real estate deals.
Curtain founded Place Woolloongabba in 2018 alongside co-principal Denis Najzar, after a decade and a half working in south Brisbane’s real estate market. He knew that creating such a bespoke office design came with a risk, but it was one that he and Najzar were willing to take.
“If you can make a statement to the marketplace that you are committing to an area, I think it really does resonate well with the market that you’re intending to do business with,” said Curtain.
“Way back, the Gabba had a bit of a Prohibition theme,” he said. “Even the street that we’re in has always had little quaint restaurants, bars and antique shops, so we really wanted to pay ode to that.”
One of the most unique features of the office is a secret door hidden in the bookshelves. Behind this door is where all the cogs and wheels of the business are hidden: meeting rooms, open-plan desks and private work areas – all united by a cohesive palette of antique brick and black steel.
To bring their vision to life, Curtain and Najzar partnered with Renée Dunn Architects and construction firm Unita, both local Brisbane businesses.
Committing to such a unique fit-out is uncommon for networks, which usually prefer to stick to a cohesive branding style, but Curtain found Place’s head office “really supportive” of the design.
“There’s obviously a very strong branding ethos for Place and you do need to stick to those guidelines, but I think if you look at the offices that have been created, a lot of them have their own individual characteristics.”
“If you go back to the first office at Bulimba, that was a very high-end contemporary office that had a very minimalist theme to it, and it made quite a statement in its day,” he said. “Even post-ours, there’s an office that opened up at Gumdale, which is an acreage part of Brisbane, where they created a bit of a horse-type theme, so within the brand there is scope for fit-outs that offer some unique characteristics that align with the area that you’re in.”
Today, the Place Woolloongabba team continues to reap the benefits of the office’s bold design.
At lunchtime, the team sits in the office’s café-style kitchen “rather than going out to places, and you hear them laughing and chatting”.
“The workspace out the back is very open-plan, it’s very inclusive, it’s easy for the team to share ideas,” said Curtain.
But perhaps the biggest impact has been on the quality of the agency’s new recruits.
“In a competitive world where it’s not always easy to attract people, this certainly does provide a component that gives you an advantage,” said Curtain.
“Bricks and mortar are not everything, so you’ve still got to marry it up with the right leadership and the right people, but it’s a really good starting point and it instantly makes a statement that a more typical office doesn’t.”
“If you’re trying to recruit the best people, you need to be able to offer them something that is different and unique,” he concluded.
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