DEFENCE has emerged as a possible new tenant for Kings Square.

When the Herald put the rumour to Sirona Capital boss Matthew McNeilly he replied “I couldn’t comment on that”. He pointedly did not deny it.

“But I could be just trying to mislead you,” he said, laughing, a few moments later.

Mr McNeilly revealed Sirona, which owns the Myer building and is expecting to pick up Queensgate as part of a deal with the council, has given up trying to find an anchor retail tenant.

He says the company’s now looking at trying to develop a “destination” that features a range of boutique stores: the idea’s generated interest in the past six months from companies Sirona’s approached overseas.

Mr McNeilly says it’s a big project and concedes earlier expectations about a start date were unrealistic, but things are progressing. He says similar developments take up to a decade to reach fruition.

Sirona is still hoping to secure the WA housing department as a tenant and mayor Brad Pettitt says a meeting with new minister Colin Holt went well a fortnight ago. He says the minister told the council a plan to move the department to the port city is still on the cards, despite Labor claiming it’s dead in the water.