The asset manager of Marina Bay Financial Centre said it has received “very strong interest” from prospective tenants for Phase Two of its Marina Bay Financial Centre project.
This is when marketing efforts have not yet started for Phase Two.
Phase Two includes the Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 3, which is slated for completion in 2012.
Raffles Quay Asset Management said that about 56 per cent of Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 3 has already been leased out.
The company is confident that it will receive more signed leases “very soon”.
Wilson Kwong, chief executive of Raffles Quay Asset Management, said: “We have received very strong interest for Marina Bay (Financial Centre)’s Phase 2, which is in Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 3. We have actually received a lot of interest from prospects and retailers, who are able to see the potential of Marina Bay as a new district and a new downtown.”
The anchor tenant for Tower 3 is DBS Bank, which will be taking up a whopping 55,000 square feet on Level three to build a banking hall and auditorium.
On the retail front, Raffles Quay Asset Management said that Marina Bay Link Mall is currently about 92 per cent leased.
However, some of the restaurants and retail shops will only open in January next year.
Currently, the underground mall is connected to Raffles Place MRT station.
The mall will also be linked to the nearby Downtown MRT station, once this new station opens in three years.
Raffles Quay Asset Management added that for the remaining 8 per cent of the underground mall still available for lease, it will be sticking to its original tenant mix of 60 per cent in food & beverage, while the remaining 40 per cent will comprise of retail.
Dr Chua Yang Liang, Head of Research at Jones Lang LaSalle, said: “There will be about 60,000 people per day who will be working around the (Marina Bay Link Mall) area, who may use this function, these services. So, we think that outlook is quite positive for such (underground) malls because of the captive market.”
Some of the restaurants and retail outlets at the underground mall said that they will consider staying open seven days a week.
Analysts, however, believe that over the short-term, the current residential population of 2,000 in the neighbourhood may be insufficient to provide demand for the weekend crowd.
But market watchers believe that the long-term outlook for the underground mall’s tenants looks promising once the new Downtown MRT station opens in 2013.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 24 Nov 2010