Space at MBFC Tower2 almost fully taken

A small percentage of space is reserved for existing tenants’ expansion

MARINA Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) Tower 2 is close to being fully leased, after a new tenant came on board and an existing one took on more space.

Prudential Asset Management (Singapore) will be leasing one and a half floors at the building, which works out to around 37,000 square feet of space. It will move in next year on a nine-year lease.

Meanwhile, Barclays Capital, which already signed a lease at MBFC Tower 2, has asked for more space.

It committed to rent four floors at the building, or around 100,000 sq ft of space, in April 2008. It has more than tripled its commitment to 14 floors or around 350,000 sq ft of space. This confirms a BT report early last month.

Barclays Capital will move to MBFC Tower 2 in Q1 2011 and its lease lasts 10 years. It now has offices at One Raffles Quay (ORQ) and it will retain its space there.

Both ORQ and MBFC are managed by Raffles Quay Asset Management. Barclays Capital director Quek Suan Kiat said: ‘Our existing relationship with the landlord, and the proximity of MBFC Tower 2 to our current office space at ORQ, were key factors in our choice of location.’

Raffles Quay Asset Management said yesterday that MBFC Tower 2 is fully leased ‘except for a small percentage of space reserved for existing tenants’ expansion’.

It declined to say how much space it is setting aside, and which tenants could take on more space. Other tenants at MBFC Tower 2 include BHP Billiton, Macquarie and Nomura.

‘Monthly rents at MBFC are in line with the current market rates,’ Raffles Quay Asset Management told BT. According to a CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) report last week, Grade A office rents averaged $8 per square foot (psf) per month in Q1 2010, down slightly from $8.10 psf per month a quarter ago.

CBRE office services executive director Moray Armstrong said in the report: ‘As we emerged from the recent recession, occupiers that had necessarily held off decisions on premises started to gear up to take advantage of competitive rents.’

The consultancy was involved in getting Nomura, Barclays Capital and Prudential Asset Management to secure space at MBFC.

MBFC Tower 2 will receive Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) in Q3. Nearby, Marina Bay Residences and Marina Bay Link Mall will obtain TOP in the next two weeks and in Q3 respectively.

The mall is likely to open its doors in Q4 after the area sees more office workers and residents.

Source: Business Times, 8 Apr 2010