Link REIT chief George Hongchoy
Asia’s largest REIT, together with Hong Kong’s biggest privately owned developer has just topped out a nearly 900,000 square foot office tower in the city’s Kowloon East area, as demand for office space continues to build in the alternative business hub.
Nearly half of the total office space in the Quayside, a joint development by Link REIT and Nan Fung Group, has already been pre-leased to tenants including US investment bank JP Morgan, with the tower now expected to open its doors in early 2019, according to an announcement on Thursday by the Hong Kong-listed real estate investment trust.
JP Morgan Takes 30% of Kowloon East Tower
JP Morgan is taking up over 30 percent of The Quayside’s 883,897 square feet (82,000 square metres), of gross floor area, as the bank joins a growing stream of multinationals fleeing Central district’s world-leading office rental prices, according to Link REIT.
In January, JP Morgan — which has its Hong Kong headquarters in Central — was reported to have pre-leased 220,000 square feet across the 12th, 15th, 16th, and 17th floors and half of the 18th floor of the Quayside, at a total monthly rent of approximately HK$6.75 million, according to media reports. J.P. Morgan was reported then to be considering signing up for more space in the office tower with the bank paying the equivalent of HK$31 per square foot for its new space on the north shore of Victoria Harbour.
The 23-storey office tower at 77 Hoi Bun Road is 60 percent owned by Link REIT and 40 percent held by Nan Fung. The grade A office tower, which has around 50,000 square feet of space per floor sits atop a three-storey retail podium. The project is located midway between the Kowloon Bay and Ngau Tau Kok MTR stations on the MTR’s Kwun Tong line.
Building to Promote Work-Life Balance
J.P. Morgan will take up one third of the building
“Our vision of office space goes beyond the workplace to bring enhancement to personal lifestyle and experience,” said George Hongchoy, CEO of Link Asset Management, the manager of Link REIT in the statement. “The Quayside aims to engage its occupants in a green and vibrant environment with inviting facilities and amenities, balancing work, life and play.”
With basic structure of the building already pre-certified as a LEED Platinum project by the US Green Building Council, the joint venture project has also received a Gold-level pre-certification on the WELL standard for healthy workplaces.
Going all out in its drive for sustainability credibility, Link REIT and Nan Fung have also equipped the Quayside with electric vehicle chargers on 400 of its parking spaces, while including a 24,000-square-foot garden area with jogging trails, outdoor gym exercise bikes and recreational facilities on the building podium.
Boosting Kowloon East Office Supply
When its completed next year, the Quayside will join a number of new office towers in Kowloon East that have opened for pre-leasing since the fourth quarter of last year, including Sun Hung Kai Properties’ Two Harbour Square, the Kingston Financial Centre owned by Kingston Financial Group and Hong Kong Pacific Tower developed by Hong Kong Pacific Investments.
Kowloon East is poised to become the city’s biggest source of office space next year by supplying 1.4 million square feet of new places to park desks, accounting for 64 percent of fresh supply citywide.
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