The Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) will be a vibrant “live-work-play” focal point for the new downtown when it is completed in 2010, akin to the Rockefeller Centre in New York and Canary Wharf in London, said its development consortium at the unveiling ceremony yesterday.
BFC Development — a joint venture by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-Shing’s Cheung Kong Holdings, Hong Kong Land and Keppel Land — said it would be spending some $1 billion developing the mixed-use project and another $1 billion on the land cost. Until now, the project had been referred to simply as the “Business and Financial Centre”.
When combined with the consortium’s first joint venture, the 120,000 sq m One Raffles Quay office towers, the MBFC will help double Singapore’s premium office space in the central business district (CBD) by adding around 150,000 sq m of Grade A premium office space.
“Our experience with One Raffles Quay — which is now fully tenanted with the likes of ABN Amro, Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse, UBS and Deutsch Bank AG — demonstrates that there is strong enough demand for this quality and quantity of space from leading global financial enterprises,” said Mr David Martin, MBFC general manager.
He added that the MBFC is currently in discussions with “a number of potential, large occupiers”.
At the unveiling ceremony last night, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said: “The MBFC is well positioned to meet the growing demand for prime office space in the CBD over the next 10 years, and providing employment for many thousands of people.”
Singapore currently hosts over 200 banks, and 7,700 jobs were created in the financial services sector last year. In the first quarter of this year, the finance sector grew by over 8 per cent, adding another 2,000 jobs.
The 3.55 ha site will also include the Marina Bay Residences which will provide 428 luxury apartments, complete with complementary retail and recreational facilities such as sky gardens and rooftop restaurants.
The residential tower will feature continuous balconies for all units — with a view of the city skyline and the bay — which will also act as sunshades and prevent views into the interior of the apartments.
The residential units will be launched before the year-end at prices comparable to, if not higher than, The Sail @ Marina Bay which sold for $1,400 to $1,650 per sq ft.
Some 1,000 residents are expected to stay at the MBFC, with about 30 per cent being foreigners, according to property agent CB Richard Ellis, which has been engaged for both the commercial and residential properties at the MBFC.
CB Richard Ellis said “strong interest” has been received from Singaporeans and others in the region, as well as further afield in India and China.
Said Mr Joseph Tan of CB Richard Ellis: “From our experience selling The Sail, the Marina Bay location has an even stronger appeal to the international community than other prime districts.”
The two office towers comprising 32 and 46 storeys respectively as well as the 55-storey Marina Bay Residences only represents Phase One of the MBFC.
The BFC Development signed an agreement with the Urban Redevelopment Authority last October to purchase the first phase of the BFC — or a gross floor area (GFA) of 224,000 sq m out of a total GFA of 438,000 sq m.
The consortium has purchased the option to buy the remainder of the BFC site within the next eight years to develop.
Source: TODAY, 06 October 2006
For more information or to register your interest, email [email protected]