Office Space At IOI Central Boulevard Towers 30% Pre-let
SINGAPORE – The developer revealed that once completed by the third quarter of this year, the IOI Central Boulevard Towers in the city-state’s central business district (CBD) will contain 1.26 million sq ft of Grade A office space, reported The Straits Times on Monday morning (6 February, SGT).
Notably, the mixed-use commercial property will comprise a 7-storey podium, on top of which stands two buildings with a height of 16 and 48 storeys. Apart from the office space, the development will also house 30,000 sq ft of retail space and 120,000 sq ft space of public space. The latter includes a massive garden on level 7, two viewing decks, and a 160m-long jogging track.
Malaysia-based IOI Properties Group disclosed that 30 percent of the office space at the development has been pre-leased, and the developer is currently in talks with other would-be office occupants.
Previously, it was reported that e-commerce giant Amazon has committed to lease around 369,000 sq ft of office space at IOI Central Boulevard Towers, and the developer said details about the other tenants will be announced at a later date.
Tay Huey Ying, the Singapore Research Head of property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), commented that the looming completion of the mixed-use commercial property is a “welcome reprieve for occupiers with large space requirements in a market facing a tight vacancy rate”.
This is after demand for Grade A office space in Singapore’s CBD rebounded strongly last year, with data from the property consultancy showing that the vacancy level for such office space tightened to 5.5 percent compared to 9.6 percent in Q3 2021.
Meanwhile, CBRE’s Research Head for Southeast Asia Tricia Song thinks that leasing momentum at IOI Central Boulevard Towers would pick up closer to its completion date. She noted that even though demand for office space from the tech industry has slowed, the property consultancy has received a steady stream of inquiries for vacant offices from companies in other sectors, like finance and banking.
Song pointed out the IOI Central Boulevard Towers will be the sole new completion in Singapore’s core CBD and Marina Bay area over the next few years, and this will likely make its office space more sought-after.
“Good quality prime office space in (the) CBD will be very limited and hard to come by, as new office sites are slated to be outside (the) CBD.”
Furthermore, the mixed-use commercial property will be directly connected to the Downtown MRT Station, while the MRT stations in Raffles Place, Marina Bay, and Shenton Way can be reached through fully sheltered walkways.
