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SHANGHAI: Wharf (Holdings) has introduced serviced apartment concierge services to tenants of its office tower Wheelock Square in Shanghai in a strategy to position itself as a top-end property landlord in the city.
"We have a 24-hour duty manager in the building to serve tenants," said Dave Siu, the general manager of estate management for Shanghai at Wharf China Estates.
Siu said the company was one of only a few landlords of grade A office buildings offering similar services in the city.
Wheelock Square in Nanjing Road West also offers concierge and housekeeping services and provides its tenants with citywide services.
These include managing travel arrangements such as airline ticketing, hotel reservations, limousine transfers and porter services.
Personal services are also offered, including bespoke tailoring, gift-wrapping and flower arrangements.
"Wheelock Square is the tallest office building in Puxi. With its prime location and quality, we consider it as the top office building in Shanghai," Siu said. "The services are aimed to reflect the quality of the property."
Competition in Shanghai's grade A office market is expected to intensify this year, with an additional 13 projects due to be released, adding 851,000 square metres to supply.
If all projects are completed on schedule, this will represent the largest annual increase in supply in Shanghai's grade A office market in the city's history, according to Savills.
However, Siu said most of supply would be in the fringe areas of Shanghai and not in the prime commercial district of Puxi.
Eric Phillips, a principal in the Shanghai office of architecture firm NBBJ, said location, transport and rental were the factors which attracted the firm to lease 900 square metres of office space in Wheelock Square.
The additional services were a bonus and reflected the quality of the environment in the building, Phillips said.
Siu had said at the start of the year office rentals would increase by 15% to 20%. "That growth has already been achieved in the first quarter," he said. "Now, I have adjusted my forecast to a growth of 25% this year."
Savills said demand for space was expected to remain strong throughout the year.
As Western economies continued to register sluggish growth, multinationals were expected to place increasing importance on the long-term prospects of China's economy in their global operations, it said.
Demand from domestic banks and insurance companies is also expected to continue to rise.
Anthony Couse, the managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle Shanghai, said landlords were taking advantage of robust expansion demand from multinationals to raise their rents, resulting in significant rental growth in Puxi.
Average rents grew 8.8% quarter on quarter to reach 8.20 yuan (RM3.77) per square metre per day in the first quarter, the agency said.
The growth in the first quarter was the fastest since the first quarter in 2005. — SCMP
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