Tanjong Pagar Centre: New tallest building in Singapore after 20 years

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http://www.straitstimes.com/business...after-20-years

Tanjong Pagar Centre: New tallest building in Singapore after 20 years

Jan 14, 2016

Rennie Whang


It's a record that has held for more than 20 years but by the middle of the year, Tanjong Pagar Centre will claim the title of the tallest building in Singapore - even if it is by just 10m.

At 290m, Tanjong Pagar Centre will tower over the central business district, displacing UOB Plaza One, One Raffles Place and Republic Plaza, which had jointly held the title.

The three buildings are about 280m tall - One Raffles Place was completed in 1988, UOB Plaza One in 1992 and Republic Plaza in 1995.

But the buildings here pale in comparison to some of their overseas counterparts. The tallest building in the world is the 829.8m Burj Khalifa in Dubai; nearer home in Taiwan, Taipei 101 reaches 508m, almost double the height of Tanjong Pagar Centre.

Yesterday, Tanjong Pagar Centre's developer GuocoLand held a topping out ceremony, with National Development Minister Lawrence Wong as guest of honour.

The 64-storey development, which cost $3.2 billion, comprises Guoco Tower, or 890,000 sq ft of Grade A office space; 100,000 sq ft of retail and food and beverage space; a 100,000 sq ft urban park; a 181-unit luxury residential component Wallich Residence; and the 222-room Sofitel Singapore City Centre hotel.

The take-up rate at Guoco Tower is about 10 per cent. Tenants who have signed on include DNB Asia, Hong Leong Bank, Open Link and Regus. The company is in advanced discussions with tenants who could potentially form another 40 per cent of demand.

While the office leasing market is not as exuberant as several years ago, there is still activity - from companies looking to upgrade, contract or expand, GuocoLand Singapore managing director Cheng Hsing Yao told reporters yesterday.

Many interested parties are looking for half a floor, or a floor or two, and they tend to sign on closer to when the building is completed and they can see the product, he said.

The retail component is 60 per cent committed, with gym operator Virgin Active as the anchor tenant.

As for Wallich Residence - which was recently renamed from Clermont Residence, to honour its street address - 16 units have been sold since its soft launch at an average price of about $3,200 per sq ft.

But while the building is the tallest in Singapore, Mr Cheng said it was not given a lofty name because GuocoLand wanted the building to reflect its surroundings.

"It goes back to why we were interested in this piece of land... It is geographically in the heart of the district, which has offices, residences and hotels, and heritage shophouses... The name will grow and we are confident that we will create a transformation in Tanjong Pagar," he said.

And now that the building is close to completion, Mr Cheng said he had seen the view from the top and "it was really amazing".

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http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real...tower-taken-up

10% of office space at Guoco Tower taken up

If current talks with potential office tenants materialise, occupancy will go up to 50%

By Lynette Khoo

[email protected]

@LynetteKhooBT

Jan 14, 2016


FOR GuocoLand's integrated project Tanjong Pagar Centre, about 10 per cent of office space at Guoco Tower and 60 per cent of retail space has been committed some six months ahead of the project's completion.

The Singapore-listed developer shared these figures on Wednesday at a topping-out ceremony, graced by Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong, for the S$3.2 billion flagship project.

The 10 per cent of office leasing commitments at Guoco Tower, which spans 890,000 sq ft in total net lettable area (NLA), includes the space to be occupied by GuocoLand Group and Hong Leong Bank, both members of Hong Leong Group.

GuocoLand is consolidating its various operations from Tung Centre at 20 Collyer Quay and Robinson Centre to its flagship project; Hong Leong Bank is also relocating from 20 Collyer Quay. The exact floor space they will take up at Guoco Tower is not revealed due to market sensitivities.

Other office tenants that have signed up for space at Guoco Tower include DNB Asia Ltd, a shipping and offshore financing solutions provider; Open Link, a trading and risk management solutions provider; and global workplace provider Regus.

Should current negotiations with potential office tenants materialise, leasing commitments for office space will go up to 50 per cent, according to JLL, the sole marketing agent for the commercial space.

Including Guoco Tower, over 3.5 million sq ft of total known CBD office supply is coming onstream this year.

GuocoLand (Singapore) managing director Cheng Hsing Yao noted that there is a healthy pipeline of interest for Guoco Tower and leasing commitments are expected to pick up in the next few months.

"We are currently in discussions with more than 30 companies from diverse industries such as finance, technology, insurance, fund management, consumer, services, trading and law firms," he told BT. "In terms of space, about one third of these companies are looking at multiple floors while a majority of the rest are looking at a range of 20,000 to 40,000 sq ft in floor size."

At a briefing on Wednesday, he noted that the office leasing market is not as exuberant as a few years ago but added that "it is not a dead market" with leasing activities still going on.

Tenant movements are driven by the need to upgrade to newer Grade-A premises with higher specifications and efficiency, to consolidate or to expand, he added. "More and more tenants are realising that this might be a very good time to move."

With the high efficiency offered by large column-free floor plates (27,000-30,000 sq ft) at Guoco Tower, a more diversified office tenant mix has also emerged. Mr Cheng observed that this is unlike a few years ago when one mega tenant occupies half or three-quarters of a project.

The group also highlighted the strong value proposition of the Tanjong Pagar precinct, which is undergoing a rejuvenation with other upcoming developments.

Once fully operational and occupied, Tanjong Pagar Centre is expected to have 13,000 to 14,000 people working and living there or visiting per day, GuocoLand president and CEO Raymond Choong pointed out. By the end of 2016, the catchment population in the immediate vicinity and within a 500-metre walking distance of Tanjong Pagar Centre is projected to reach more than 118,000 persons.

"These figures further demonstrate and reinforce the potential of Tanjong Pagar Centre as well as ensuring its success," Mr Choong said on Wednesday.

Chris Fossick, JLL managing director for Singapore and South-east Asia, said most of the committed leases and leases under discussions are with companies already operating in Singapore. He expects leasing commitments to start accelerating as the project nears temporary occupation permit (TOP), as negotiations with "sizeable occupiers" are underway.

Office occupancy rates in Singapore now hovers above 95 per cent, with rents for prime CBD office space averaging S$10.28 per square foot per month as at end-2015 after some 10 per cent decline for the whole year, JLL estimates.

The current 60 per cent take-up rate for retail space at Tanjong Pagar Centre, whose retail component spans 100,000 sq ft in total NLA, includes the 31,000 sq ft of anchor space taken up by gym operator Virgin Active.

Tanjong Pagar Centre will open in phases from the second half of this year. It also has a 5-star hotel, luxury homes, and a 150,000 sq ft Urban Park, and will be Singapore's tallest building at 290 metres when completed in mid-2016.

Last week, GuocoLand announced the appointment of AccorHotels to manage the 222-room Sofitel Singapore City Centre at Tanjong Pagar Centre. The 181-unit luxury residences, renamed as Wallich Residence, was soft launched in 2014. Some 16 units were sold at an average price of S$3,100 psf.

Mr Cheng said Wallich Residence will be launched later this year. The group foresees demand picking up when the project is completed, as was seen in the group's earlier luxury projects Goodwood Residence and Leedon Residence.

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TOP obtain for Guocotower office component:
http://www.straitstimes.com/business...uocoland-group

http://www.wallichresidence.com.sg/v...ch_English.mp4

[propertycarrots]

Source: http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real...at-guoco-tower


TECH and media companies are making their presence felt at Guoco Tower in Tanjong Pagar, accounting for 37 per cent of the space that has already been committed.

The premium Grade A office component of Tanjong Pagar Centre, a mixed-development project being built by the listed GuocoLand group, has 890,000 sq ft net lettable area of which 80 per cent or some 712,000 sq ft is either taken up or subject of advanced leasing discussions.

"Of this space, approximately 263,000 sq ft has been committed by tech and media companies, including Amadeus and OpenLink," Cheng Hsing Yao, managing director of GuocoLand Singapore, told The Business Times.

He declined to name the other tech and media companies but earlier media reports tipped Agoda, Dentsu Aegis Network, Palo Alto Networks and SAS Singapore as all heading for Guoco Tower.

Dentsu Aegis is expected to be the biggest tenant with about 100,000 sq ft. Other major tenants include ING and Itochu Singapore.

GuocoLand has also named as new tenants The Straits Trading Company, which will be moving out of 9 Battery Road; Danone, which is exiting Goldbell Towers along Scotts Road; shoemaker Asics, which will be leaving PWC Building; and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, which is exiting three locations.

"This diversity of tenant mix for Guoco Tower will allow us to avoid being overconcentrated in one particular industry segment. The counter cyclical nature of the different industries should help maintain a more stable demand for our offices in the tower," said Mr Cheng.

The offices, which received Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) last month, are on the lower 38 levels of the 64-storey tower, which is Singapore's tallest building at 290 metres.

Levels 39 and upwards of this tower comprise the 181-unit Wallich Residence. A second tower houses the 222-room Sofitel Singapore City Centre. Both of these components are expected to receive TOP between late this year and early 2017. The project also has a retail component, part of which has already received TOP.

Mr Cheng said that the general "flight to quality" among tenants that most new office developments benefit from by itself does not adequately account for Guoco Tower's success.

"We believe that this is a result of a combination of factors, including our prime location, flexible, efficient and scalable design, Tanjong Pagar Centre's tightly integrated retail and lifestyle components, and of course, the prestige factor of being in Singapore's tallest building."

Most of the MNCs in Guoco Tower will be using it as their regional headquarters with average headcounts of 300 to 500 persons, coupled with relocations of many of their senior management staff from their other headquarters or regional offices to Singapore.

"This will create a lot of demand for F&B, services, hotels and even housing in the area and catalyse Tanjong Pagar's transformation," added Mr Cheng.

Cushman & Wakefield executive director June Chua estimates gross effective monthly rents at Guoco Tower to be between S$8.50 and S$11.00 per square foot - comfortably above the average of S$7 to S$8 psf in the Tanjong Pagar office micromarket, and comparable to other premium Grade A developments in Marina Bay.

Guoco Tower's floors are square- shaped, with structural columns pushed to the edges of the floors, optimising usable space. On a per-floor basis, net lettable areas typically range from 27,000 to 30,000 sq ft. Tanjong Pagar Centre has 575 car parking lots and 221 bicycle lots.