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On Sept 28, the third and final office tower at Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) in Singapore was topped out. Some 60% of the 1.3 million sq ft Grade-A office space in the 46-storey Tower 3 has already been pre-leased ahead of its expected temporary occupation permit in 2012.
DBS will be the anchor tenant at the tower, taking up 18 floors, which translates into 600,000 sq ft of prime office space. DBS chairman Peter Seah says in a statement that the local bank will be moving its headquarters and its flagship branch, along with the 4,800 employees in its customer-relations units, to the tower.
Other confirmed office tenants include international law firms Ashurst LLP and Clifford Chance, Singapore’s leading local law firm Wong Partnership, and global information services company McGraw-Hill. Leading mining firm Rio Tinto is also reportedly taking up 70,000 sq ft at Tower 3.
MBFC landlord, Raffles Quay Asset Management, is said to be in active discussions for the lease of the remaining office space, comprising the mid-zone floors. “We’re still seeing healthy demand and interest,” says Wilson Kwong, CEO of RQAM. “[The rents achieved at MBFC Tower 3] are in accordance with prevailing market rates at the time.” Lease periods of tenants range from three to 12 years. As at 2Q2011, Grade-A office space was commanding rents of S$10.60 psf a month, according to CBRE Research.
The developer of MBFC is a consortium comprising Cheung Kong (Holdings)/Hutchison Whampoa, Hongkong Land and Keppel Land. RQAM was established a decade ago to manage the projects developed by the consortium. Its first development was One Raffles Quay, which was completed in 2006 and built on the first site to be sold at Marina Bay in 2001.
One Raffles Quay has two office towers with a total net lettable area of 1.32 million sq ft. It also has an underground link to Raffles Place MRT station.
“Looking across the world, it is hard to think of any speculatively built office developments that have been more successful than One Raffles Quay and MBFC,” says Moray Armstrong, executive director of office services at CB Richard Ellis (CBRE). “The quality of the tenants that the complex has attracted is truly world class and the pre-commitment levels achieved across such a massive scheme are unprecedented.”
Besides Tower 3, Phase 2 of MBFC includes the 221-unit Marina Bay Suites residential tower, scheduled to be completed in 2013. As at Aug 31, 144 units at Marina Bay Suites had been sold, with the latest unit achieving a median price of S$2,165 psf, according to URA’s new home sales figures.
Phase 2 also includes 82,000 sq ft of retail space, which will be part of the Marina Bay Link Mall and will come on stream when Tower 3 is completed. So far, 90% of the space has been pre-leased. Tenants include Food Loft by NTUC Foodfare, which will be taking up 9,000 sq ft; Korean food outlet Bibigo; China F&B operator South Beauty; and organic vegan burger and fast-food joint Veganburg.
“We are very happy and comfortable with the leasing status so far,” says Justin Chiu, executive director of Cheung Kong, who was at the topping-out ceremony. “We should be substantially let before [obtaining the temporary occupation permit] next year.”
When the entire S$4 billion MBFC development is completed, it will comprise three office towers with a total of three million sq ft of Grade-A prime office space, two residential towers with 649 apartments and penthouses as well as the Marina Bay Link Mall.
Gwyneth Yeo is a staff writer at The Edge Singapore
This article appeared in City & Country, the property pullout of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 881, Oct 24-30, 2011
