Lazada One Office Bldg Up For Sale For S$800mil

SINGAPORE – People privy to the matter have revealed that the Lazada One office building close to the city-state’s famed Orchard Road shopping belt is being listed for sale by its owners, reported The Business Times on Tuesday afternoon (14 December, SGT).

In particular, property fund manager ARA Asset Management and UK real estate group Chelsfield are listing the commercial property for roughly S$800 million (S$3,319 psf), said the sources who requested anonymity as the matter is private.

The 11-storey office and retail complex, which is just a short drive from Singapore’s financial district, is presently leased by ecommerce firm Lazada Group and its parent company Alibaba.

Previously, the owners have jointly acquired the 241,000 sq ft commercial property for S$555.5 million in 2019. Formerly, the building was called the Manulife Centre, but was later rebranded as 5One Central after the acquisition.

Then in June 2021, it was renamed as Lazada One after the ecommerce firm and its parent company became an anchor tenant when they rented 140,000 sq ft of office space, while they awaited the completion of the redevelopment of their own building, AXA Tower.

Notably, office properties in Singapore remain sought-after even though office space across the globe have seen their occupancy fall as staff worked from home (WFH) during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, tech forms like ByteDance and Amazon have expanded their presence in Singapore and made it their base for the ASEAN region’s market.

While Singapore workers’ return to the office has been slow, property consultancy firms Knight Frank and Savills believe that office rents are nearing rock-bottom. As a matter of fact, top-flight office rents in Q3 2021 ended 6 straight quarters of drops, based on a Savills report in November.

The city-state’s office market could potentially record rental growth of 25 percent to 30 percent come 2025, stated a report from Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) on 24 September.