Demand for business park space up in Q1

INCREASED interest from infocomm, pharmaceutical and technology firms drove up demand for business park space in the first quarter, said consultancy CBRE yesterday.

Firms took up about 910,000 sq ft of space in the three months to March 31, mostly at Fusionopolis Phase 2A, which had secured pre-commitments of 80 per cent.

Food producer Fuji Oil Asia, for instance, took up 20,450 sq ft at The Galen in South Buona Vista while Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical Company took up 12,000 sq ft at the Biopolis at one-north.

Overall vacancies in the business park market, as a result, were 10.4 per cent in the three months to March 31, down from 11.7 per cent in the preceding quarter.

Mr Michael Tay, executive director of office services at CBRE, said this “bodes well” for the business park segment for the rest of the year, as a limited supply of such space without pre-commitments should lead to falling vacancies.

About two million sq ft of uncommitted space, in the next two years, will come from Mapletree Business City Phase 2 in Pasir Panjang and the Science Park in Buona Vista.

Refurbishments of older buildings, such as The Signature and Plaza 8 in Changi Business Park, and the Creative Technology Building in Jurong East, increased leasing activity in the first three months of the year, stemming a widening gap between rents at older and new business parks.

In Changi Business Park, for instance, Swiss bank UBS took up about 110,000 sq ft at Hansapoint while Chinese handset maker Huawei leased 20,000 sq ft at the Ultro Building.

This was also in part driven by the conversion of office space to retail space, said CBRE, which tracks business park space without pre-commitments in the city-fringe districts and outlying areas.

First-quarter rents in the city-fringe areas remained unchanged from the preceding quarter at $5.50 per sq ft (psf) a month. In the outlying regions, monthly rents were $3.65 psf in the three months to March 31, unchanged from the preceding three-month period.

However, Mr Tay cautioned that demand could be affected by uncertain economic conditions as well as the performance of the competing office market.

Other factors include demand from the technology sector, and whether it is “able to continue its momentum” after “a swathe of expansion over the past 12 months”, he said.

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Capri by Fraser transacted at more than S$200M

A UNIT of Frasers Centrepoint Limited is paying S$203.4 million for Capri by Fraser, Changi City.

The price translates to nearly S$650,000 per room for the 313-room “hotel residence” – or a serviced apartment- hotel hybrid – which is on land with a balance lease term of about 54 years.

The 12-storey property is being sold by Ascendas Frasers Pte Ltd, an equal joint venture between Ascendas Land (Singapore) and Frasers Centrepoint.

Market watchers say it is just a matter of time before Frasers Centrepoint offers the asset to its sponsored trust, Frasers Hospitality Trust (FHT). The property was listed in FHT’s prospectus in June 2014 as part of the future acquisition pipeline for the trust under a right of first refusal arrangement with Frasers Centrepoint, which is the trust’s sponsor.

Capri by Fraser, Changi City opened in 2012. Its 313 studios (ranging from 32 square metres to 70 sq m) are equipped with kitchenettes.

The hotel residence is part of a mixed development located next to Expo MRT Station and within Changi Business Park that Frasers Centrepoint developed jointly with Ascendas on a 4.7 hectare site that the partnership clinched at a tender in 2008 conducted by JTC Corporation.

The two bagged the 60-year leasehold land parcel for S$150.8 million or S$119 per square foot per plot ratio.

The mixed development also includes One@Changi City, comprising about 650,000 sq ft of net lettable area of business park space spanning nine levels, and the Changi City Point mall.

The project’s hotel residence component was Frasers Centrepoint’s first Capri property and cost S$124 million to develop, according to an article in May 2012.

In term of the S$650,000 per room pricing, Donald Han, managing director of property consulting group Chestertons, said the price is reflective of the market – taking into account the location, tenure and the fact that the performance of the property has stabilised since it has been trading for a few years.

“I would expect yield to be 6-plus per cent before it is offered to Frasers Hospitality Trust,” he said.

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Views of Thomson-EastCoast Line Part 1

Here are the locations and artist’s impressions of the respective stations along the latest MRT line. (Source: LTA)

Part 1: Bayshore, Bedok South and Sungei Bedok

This is also known as District 16 of Singapore housing areas. Being close to Airport, Changi Business Park and East Coast Park, it is a value choice for expats and those who loved waterfront stays. Popular Condos in the areas include The Bayshore, Costa del Sol, Bayshore Park, The Summit and various Upper East Coast Apartments.

Changi Business Park shaping up as infocomm tech hub

Was looking past some old news and saw this article on Changi reported in Mar 2014.

Changi Business Park (CBP) is turning out to be a major infocommunications technology hub after more than 20 tech companies, including IBM, Cisco and EMC, opened offices there.

Affordable rents, plenty of space and proximity to the airport are its attractions. Tech employees tend to travel frequently, and these companies also receive visitors from abroad.

Even their key clients such as DBS Bank, Citibank and other banks have located their IT and support functions there too.

IBM was the sole IT tenant when it moved from IBM Towers at Anson Road to CBP in 2001.

An IBM spokesman said: “Real estate cost was an obvious reason why the move was made.”

It has located its regional and global businesses in CBP as well.

Cisco moved in in 2012 after 19 years in the city, mainly to consolidate four offices into one regional headquarters location.

It also needed extra space because its employee strength had grown to about 1,000.

DBS set up its Asia Hub at CBP as part of its Asian plans “to invest in our physical infrastructure, signalling our commitment to growing our footprint across the region”, according to the bank’s chief operating officer for technology and operations, Mr Paul Cobban.

The Asia Hub, which opened in 2010, has more than 3,000 employees, about 40 per cent of the bank’s Singapore-based staff.

They perform technology, operations and support functions. DBS Academy, the bank’s training centre, is also at CBP.

Citibank’s CBP office has more than 4,400 employees working in areas such as technology and support. Its first building opened in 2009, and its second in 2011. Mr Adam Rahman, head of corporate affairs of Citibank Singapore, said CBP provided the space for “our long-term growth in Singapore and the region”.

Changi may seem remote, but the tech companies have made CBP more accessible to its employees by arranging for shuttle buses to MRT stations at Expo, Tanah Merah and Tampines.

EMC Singapore has its 800 employees based in CBP.

Managing director Eric Goh likened CBP to a “little city by itself” with the 2011 opening of Changi City Point shopping centre.

There are now many restaurants in the area, including Ootoya, Grandma’s, Ajisen and Soup Spoon.

Assistant manager Pang Shu Fen of Citibank’s credit control management unit described CBP as a mini Central Business District, “except that the air is fresher here, and it is less crowded, which is a plus point”.

– See more at: http://business.asiaone.com/news/changi-business-park-shaping-infocomm-tech-hub#sthash.MqccN1AY.dpuf