Raffles Place Office Bldg Clifford Centre To Undergo Redevelopment

Office Finder Team

May 26, 2022

Singapore

SINGAPORE – Clifford Centre, an office and retail project in Raffles Place that was completed in the 1970s, is poised to undergo redevelopment, reported The Business Times on Thursday morning (26 May, SGT).

In February 2022, the owner of the commercial property, Singapore Land Group (SingLand), received provisional permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) to redevelop the 999-year leasehold site into a project with an overall gross floor area (GFA) of 544,000 sq ft, surpassing the existing GFA of 401,138 sq ft by 36 percent. The new GFA is also around 15 times the 36,000 sq ft site area given its 15.0 plot ratio under the latest Master Plan.

The redeveloped commercial space will comprise 52,000 sq ft of retail premises and 492,000 sq ft of office space.

At present, the 29-storey Clifford Centre has a net leasable area of around 279,000 sq ft and its committed occupancy as of the end of 2021 was 89 percent. Its existing tenants include law firm Donaldson & Burkinshaw as well as coworking space operator Compass Offices. Previously, Bank of America and the Singapore’s Stock Exchange had leased office space there.

The redevelopment comes as prevailing office rents in Clifford Centre are about 20 percent lower on average compared to other buildings in the vicinity, which have been renovated recently.

Michael Tay, Senior Executive Director and Head of capital markets for Singapore at CBRE, commented that Clifford Centre’s redevelopment is timely and will contribute to the rejuvenation of Raffles Place.

“The new development on the Clifford Centre site, when completed in say 5 years’ time, should still be able to capitalise on the office supply shortage situation in the CBD brought about by the scarcity of office development sites in the area under the Government Land Sales Programme,” Tay added.

Furthermore, SingLand has started a major refurbishment at the nearby Singapore Land Tower. The renovation started in early 2021 and is expected to be completed by 2023.