The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has launched the sale of two transitional office sites at Scotts and Anthony Roads in the Newton area. The sites are being released under a government programme to meet the near-term demand for office space. The two parcels are located next to the Newton MRT station. The first site has an area of some 0.86 hectares and can yield a maximum gross floor area of about...
Office / Retail Space
Citibank is gunning for more high net worth clients with a new S$3.5 million high-tech centre in Singapore.The centre will have private conference rooms, video conferencing facilities and a plush ambience akin to a five-star hotel catering to high net worth clients. Citibank believes such clients form a growing market, which will help it compete in the lucrative banking segment. Such individuals typically...
Office rents in Singapore are likely to rise at a slower pace this year, even as supply, especially in prime areas, remains tight. Robust demand for grade A office space by financial institutions and other companies will still contribute to overall rental growth, but it would not match the upward spiral seen last year, said property consultants. “A variety of factors indicate a slower pace of rental...
Rentals of Grade A offices in Singapore are expected to continue rising this year. According to property consultant Savills, average office rentals here may even nudge above that of Hong Kong's, currently the highest in the region. They added that Singapore's office property sector will continue to remain buoyant despite worries over the US sub-prime crisis. One Raffles Quay in Singapore's Central...
The 17-storey Singapore Power Building on Somerset Road has been sold. Pacific Star Group did not disclose the price it paid but it is believed to be close to S$1 billion. The property group described the transaction as a landmark deal and one of the largest commercial real estate deals transacted in Singapore to date. It is planning a makeover of the 30-year-old property. Part of the plans will be to...
By 2012, Singapore will have an additional 1.4 million sq m of office space. Some 150,000 sq m of additional space will also be added near term. But that is small consolation to businesses facing a rapid rise in rentals on a surge in the growth in business and financial sectors. To ease the squeeze in office space further, the government will move some government agencies out of the central area. “We...
Singapore has moved up 10 spots to become the world’s seventh most expensive office location. According to Cushman & Wakefield’s global ranking, prime office rents shot up 78 percent in Singapore last year. The property consultancy expects demand for office space from companies across most industry sectors to remain strong this year against a tight supply till 2010. Cushman is predicting that...
Standard Chartered Bank is investing S$206m in a new office building in Changi Business Park in Singapore. The new building will house the bank's back-end operations and a global learning centre, and will be completed in 2010. This makes Standard Chartered the latest financial institution to relocate part of its operations to Changi. DBS, Citibank and Credit Suisse have made similar announcements. The...
Life insurance firm Prudential is expected to save S$1.2 million a year in rent for the next 15 years when it moves into a transitional office site at Scotts Road. The site, which is slated to be ready in September, will house 2,500 staff. The target to construct the S$35 million, four-storey building by September is a challenging one given the resource crunch in the construction sector. Developer...
SMRT has officially opened its first heartland, non-underground retail space - Choa Chu Kang Xchange, at the junction of a bus interchange, MRT and LRT stations. This follows the Raffles and Dhoby Xchanges, both of which are in the city. Covering close to 1,000 square metres, all 42 shops at Choa Chu Kang Xchange have been leased out. MRT Corporation president & CEO, Saw Phaik Hwa, said: "(Five...