Lendlease gets okay for construction of TRX

PROPERTY and infrastructure group Lendlease Corp has received all the approvals to progress the Lifestyle Quarter of the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) to the next stage and has moved into the construction phase of the development.

Australia-listed Lendlease is the joint-venture partner of TRX City Sdn Bhd in developing the Lifestyle Quarter at TRX, a 6.88ha mixed-use development.

Lendlease owns 60% of the partnership, while the remaining 40% stake is held by TRX City.

Lendlease is also the development and construction manager for the project, which has an estimated development end value of around RM8 billion.

Among the approvals received by the company include the Earthworks Plan Approval from the Kuala Lumpur City Hall that would allow it to proceed with construction at the site.

“With the approvals, works at the TRX Lifestyle Quarter comprising a new city centre retail mall, six residential towers, a luxury hotel and park are now in full swing.

“The excavation has been completed. Piling for the retail component is progressing well, with almost 500 structural piles completed,” the group announced in a statement yesterday.

With over 120,774 sq m (1.3 million sq ft) of net lettable area, the project has to date leased 26% of its retail space to include Japanese departmental store Seibu, an

upscale supermarket brand by Hong Kong-based Dairy Farm Group, and a Golden Screen Cinemas theatre.

TRX is an upcoming RM40 billion international finance and business district located between Jalan Tun Razak and Jalan Bukit Bintang.

Its master developer is TRX City, a wholly owned unit of the Ministry of Finance Inc.

Source : https://themalaysianreserve.com/2017/09/15/lendlease-gets-okay-construction-trx/

KL prime office sector to see 2.5% rent growth in next three years — Knight Frank

 

Holt: Rental growth prospects across the major cities in Asia-Pacific look positive over the next three years. (Photo by Low Yen Yeing/EdgeProp.my)

 

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 11): Knight Frank has forecast a 2.5% growth in prime office rents in Kuala Lumpur over the next three years, a growth rate which is ahead of the forecasts for two main cities in China — Shanghai and Beijing.

According to the global property consultancy firm’s Global Cities: The 2018 Report, KL ranked 12th highest in the Asia-Pacific rent growth three-year forecasts (end-2017 to end-2020).

Knight Frank Asia-Pacific head of research Nicholas Holt said rental growth prospects across major cities in Asia-Pacific look positive over the next three years, reflecting solid regional growth prospects translating into strong demand from a number of sectors.

“Occupiers in technology, media and telecommunications are especially likely to drive demand in many of the gateway cities, while we also expect to see more Chinese tenants active in the major markets,” he said during a media briefing on the key findings of the report.

Manila topped the list with a rent forecast growth of 19.1% over the next three years, followed by Brisbane and Singapore which have a forecast growth of 16.5% and 15.8%, respectively.

Meanwhile, Knight Frank Malaysia managing director Sarkunan Subramaniam said KL’s office rental has offered the most value among the 23 global cities in the report with an average per annum rental of US$23 psf or US$250 psm.

In terms of rental yield, Holt said some skyscrapers in KL have offered attractive yields of 6.5%, which is higher than other cities including Singapore (3%) and San Francisco (4.5%).

The report features the Skyscrapper index, which examines the rental performance of commercial buildings of over 30 storeys across 23 global cities in 2Q17.

In the Skyscrapper index, Hong Kong topped the list with per annum rental of US$304 psf or US$3,273 psm.

New York (Manhattan) and Tokyo came second and third with the per annum rental of US$162 psf (US$1,742 psm) and US$140 psf (US$1,502 psm), respectively.

Commenting on old office buildings that are losing their attractiveness to new Grade A buildings, Sarkunan noted that KL is now undergoing gentrification and property owners would need to rethink and repurpose their buildings to suit current needs in order to attract new tenants.

Source : https://www.edgeprop.my/content/1210450/kl-prime-office-sector-see-25-rent-growth-next-three-years-%E2%80%94-knight-frank

Tech changing office space trend as price down

• Thursday, 12 Oct 2017

Report launched: (from left) Sarkunan, InvestKL CEO Datuk Zainal Amanshah and Knight Frank Asia-Pacific head of research Nicholas Holt at the launching of Global Cities: The 2018 Report.

 

KUALA LUMPUR: Technology is not only creating ripples in the retail scene. Two obvious trends are emerging in the Klang Valley office space.

Landlords are seeing a flight to quality as multinational companies (MNCs) and local corporations take advantage of the availability of better grade office space at competitive rates and attractive tenancy terms, said Knight Frank Malaysia executive director (corporate services) Teh Young Khean.

The second trend is the growth in serviced office segment, or co-working space, as millennials and older businessmen and women turn to short-term office rental of a month or two.

“It is clean, easy and convenient. The people who opt for serviced office space need not get into the hassle of hiring staff or buying furniture or other utility bills. When they rent serviced office space, all that comes in a single bill. They opt for this segment of the office space to meet a short-term need before they go to the next city,” said Teh.

Teh was speaking to StarBiz after the launch of the fourth edition of Global Cities: The 2018 Report.

Changes in technology is supporting a flexible working culture, said Teh, and this has resulted in the rising popularity of the serviced office segment.

“Demand for co-working space is expected to grow across a diverse mix of industries and professions such as technology start-ups and small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs).”

Teh said clients are searching for good deals in the office market in order to turn this space into co-working space.

A co-working space centre may have space of between 20,000 and 30,000 sq ft. Some could be larger.

But like everything else, they are selective.

The first, said Teh, is connectivity. It has to be close to public transport with easy access to amenities. This brings to mind mixed integrated development, said Teh.

“They also like malls because everything can be found under one roof,” said Teh. They also like new buildings with large floor plates although there are times when, if the opportunity arises, they can turn a single medium-level block into an entire centre of co-working space,” said Teh, who saw this happening in Singapore and other cities.

Teh said out of the 100mil sq ft of office space in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, about 500,000 sq ft, or 0.5%, are being used as co-working space today.

“This is growing,” he said, due in part to high grade office space available at very competitive rental rates compared with other cities in the region.

Regus, the operator of co-working space, which has 30 centres across Malaysia has signed up for space in a strata office block in Bukit Bintang City Centre

 

Source :  http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/10/12/tech-changing-office-space-trend/#0hFHYf6FjG8iU1iU.99