Nearly all office space taken up

NEARLY all of the first phase of the giant Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) has been leased ahead of its completion later this year.

Every office suite – with the exception of a small percentage reserved for existing tenants’ expansion – is now taken, several months prior to the phase’s official completion in the third quarter.

Phase 1 consists of commercial Towers One and Two, and has a total office space of about 1.6 million sq ft.

MBFC management company Raffles Quay Asset Management (RQAM) announced yesterday that Prudential Asset Management had signed up to be a tenant and Barclays Capital was taking more space. Pre-committed tenants include BHP Billiton, Macquarie and Nomura.

Barclays Capital will be taking a 10-year lease on approximately 350,000 sq ft of space, and occupy 14 floors of the 50-storey commercial Tower Two from the first quarter of next year.

Prudential Asset Management will move into 37,000 sq ft of space next year in MBFC’s Tower Two and occupy 11/2 floors on a nine-year lease.

RQAM chief executive Wilson Kwong said that there had been strong interest from global companies for the Grade A office space, with good pre-commitment levels from well-regarded tenants being testament to MBFC’s claim to be ‘Asia’s Best Business Address’.

The development offers flexible and state-of-the-art office space to multinational companies looking to consolidate their operations at one location, he added.

Barclays Capital director Quek Suan Kiat said that the proximity of MBFC Tower Two to the company’s current office space at One Raffles Quay was a key factor in its choice of location.

‘We see this consolidation of space as beneficial to our employees and for service delivery to our clients,’ he said.

MBFC is being developed by a consortium comprising Hongkong Land, Cheung Kong/Hutchison Whampoa and Keppel Land.

In 2006, the consortium said that it would spend $2 billion on the first phase of the development.

Source : Straits Times – 9 Apr 2010