Hong Kong’s commercial centre of gravity may have just shifted a few MTR stops eastward as Swire Properties announced today that its latest office tower in Quarry Bay, One Taikoo Place, has now reached 100 percent occupancy.
Ernst and Young is taking eight floors at One Taikoo Place
Swire revealed that it reached this latest milestone with an assist from international finance consultancy Ernst and Young, which has leased eight floors totalling 160,000 square feet in the newly completed towers, helping to fill up the 48-storey building.
The one million square foot (92,903 square metre) property received its occupancy permit in September of this year and tenants – primarily from professional services firms – have already begun fitting out their new homes in what is the first stage of a HK$15 billion ($1.92 billion) redevelopment of the one-time industrial district.
20 New Tenants Commit to Quarry Bay Property
“With its high spec design and surrounding amenities, One Taikoo Place is helping challenge conventional norms of what a workplace can be,” Don Taylor, director of Swire Properties’ office division said in the statement. Adding that, “we have no doubt that our latest office tower and the ongoing transformation of Taikoo Place will cement the district’s status as a vibrant CBD.”
Ernst and Young is among 20 new tenants that the Hong Kong-listed developer says have committed to occupying One Taikoo Place, including AXA Investment Managers, law firm Eversheds Sutherland, JLL, luxury conglomerate Kering and the Royal Bank of Canada.
Overall, more than 60 percent of the space in One Taikoo Place has been leased by professional services firms, including legal, financial, insurance and consultancy providers, with tenants from the communications, luxury retail and environmental services industry also having committed to the high-end project.
As revealed by Mingtiandi just over one year ago, Facebook is also a major tenant in the new tower, with law firm Baker McKenzie also among the early joiners in the building.
High-End Building Win Tenants in Eastern Location
Swire’s leasing of One Taikoo Place, which it is developing in tandem with a second 48 storey tower, Two Taikoo Place, may have been facilitated by a rapid increase in office rents in Central which have spurred many of the multinationals that traditionally shoe-horned themselves into the world’s most expensive business district to look for alternative locations nearby.
Swire’s Don Taylor enjoys some quiet reflection on 100% occupancy (Image credit: Mike Pickles)
Two Taikoo Place, which like its sister tower is connected to Swire’s Taikoo Place campus through enclosed walkways, is scheduled for completion in 2021. The redevelopment project also includes the creation of a pair of landscaped plazas which aim to enhance the community atmosphere of the now nine building Taikoo Place development.
With asking rents at One Taikoo Place having initially ranged from HK$50 to HK$70 per square foot, the building’s high grade construction and design, which include being pre-certified as LEED Platinum by the US Green Building Council, offer an option for occupiers deterred by rents in Central, where grade A space cost an average of HK$137 ($17.5) per square foot per month during the second quarter of this year.
The same trend has also seen a number international banks and financial institutions leave Central for space in Kowloon East as rental rates rise in the core business district and larger footprint buildings become available in emerging locations.
Early last month multinational insurance firm Cigna was confirmed as leasing a whole floor in Mapletree Bay Point in Kowloon East, where it will count HSBC, WeWork and apparel maker VF Corporation among its new neighbours.
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