Rejuvenation of Tanjong Pagar

22 PROPERTY 2013
The Business Times, Thursday, September 12, 2013
Rejuvenation of
Tanjong Pagar
In the
neighbourhood:
(Clockwise from
left) Tanjong
Pagar Centre is a
new development;
strata-titled
properties in the
area include
Springleaf Tower;
the Tanjong
Pagar Railway
Station is
expected to be
transformed into
a new area with a
cultural flavour;
Mapletree Anson
is part of the
Grade A pool of
office buildings.
As downtown Singapore grows in maturity, existing micro markets will
evolve to meet particular tenant needs, says TOBY DODD
Exciting changes will also take place on brownfield
land. The Tanjong Pagar Railway Station is expected to be
transformed into a new area with a cultural flavour. The
port in Tanjong Pagar will see its lease expire in 2027,
and its facilities are to be relocated to Tuas. The redevelopment of the vacated land, with a size of 1,000 ha or so,
will generate a business and living centre named Southern Waterfront City.
On the infrastructure front, the area will be served by a
new MRT line called Circle Line Stage 6 (CCL6). It is four
km long, and is due to be ready by 2025. The new line will
bridge the current MRT stations of HarbourFront and Marina Bay. This will conceivably benefit Tanjong Pagar in
two main ways. Its completion is scheduled to occur before the removal of the port and will certainly attract greater human traffic from Marina Bay and HarbourFront.
This will lead to decent demand for future developments
in this micro market. It will also make it easier for residents in Tanjong Pagar to enjoy the leisure offerings at
Sentosa.
In summary, building on its unique history and
strength, Tanjong Pagar will soon undergo a great transformation.
The introduction of epoch-making developments is to
provide intentional Grade A offices to satisfy increasing
and sophisticated tenant demand. Seamless urban planning will also lend support to the area’s future journey.
The author is managing director of Cushman and
Wakefield Singapore
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YAN KIT R
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As downtown Singapore grows in maturity, the existing
micro markets will evolve to meet particular tenant needs.
Growth is expected in Bugis and Tanjong Pagar, the
two predominant micro markets anchoring the north and
south of downtown respectively. Upcoming epochal
FILE PHOTOS
TEO HON
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The renaissance of Tanjong Pagar
projects are the DUO in Bugis/Beach Road and Guoco Tower (part of Tanjong Pagar Centre) in Tanjong Pagar.
To the south of downtown, an office corridor has
emerged between Marina Bay/Raffles Place and Tanjong
Pagar, principally along Cecil Street, Robinson Road and
Shenton Way.
This corridor provides a wide range of building grades
to serve a variety of users, with rents ranging between $6
and $9 per square foot per month (psf pm). The renaissance of Tanjong Pagar is clearly anchoring this corridor.
At present, Tanjong Pagar is a popular location for a diversified profile of businesses. It has about 5.3 million sq
ft of office space across 23 buildings of all grades. They
consist of a few strata-titled properties, such as Springleaf
Tower, International Plaza and Southpoint. The Grade A
pool accounts for around 1.6 million sq ft, across buildings such as Mapletree Anson, AXA Tower and Twenty
Anson.
The major tenants in Tanjong Pagar occupy 1.4 million
sq ft across 10 office buildings. More than half of the occupied space is dominated by three industry sectors; insurance (21.2 per cent), shipping (19.1 per cent) and technology (13.6 per cent). Among these major tenants are AXA
Insurance, Maersk and Fuji Xerox.
New developments are on the horizon to ensure the area’s future success. Among them, the first key one is Tanjong Pagar Centre, designed by Skidmore, Owings and
Merrill. The second, on the border of the neighbouring micro market, is related to the recently acquired Government Land Sales site by Frasers Centrepoint, in the area’s
vicinity.
The former, located directly above Tanjong Pagar MRT
station, will provide 850,000 sq ft of office space, 100,000
sq ft of retail space, a five-star business hotel and luxury
residences. It is due for completion in 2016.
The latter sits on the 99-year leasehold parcel at the intersection of Cecil Street and Telok Ayer Street. It is predicted to deliver an aggregate lettable office space of
around 565,000 sq ft with no strata subdivision. No residential use is allowed for this project as well. The property
will enjoy direct connection to Tanjong Pagar MRT station, and is set to complete in 2017.
On the border in the adjoining micro market, close to
Capital Tower, Far East Organization is developing SBF
Centre for strata office and medical suite sales.
Next to that, CapitaLand recently announced that it
would consolidate all its business units and occupy nine
floors for a total of about 141,000 sq ft at Capital Tower.
This further reinforces the gateway to the Tanjong Pagar
district.
CA
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THE Singapore office market has seen positive rental
gains in the first half of 2013, clearly signalling that the
bottom of the cycle has passed, with the future looking positive.
While Singapore continues to lead the region for banking and financial services, other business sectors are
growing their footprint. These include life sciences, legal
and professional services. With this diverse demand base,
we are confident about the office market’s recovery in
2013 and sustainable growth throughout 2014.
Singapore’s downtown Grade A office market has the
potential to double over the next decade, from the current
22.5 million sq ft, thanks to the republic’s world-class urban planning.
The current development pipeline totals over 9.9 million sq ft in the next four years from projects led by the
iconic landmark, Marina One, and DUO developed by
M+S, the Malaysia-Singapore joint venture. Other notable
projects include CapitaGreen, Asia Square Tower 2, South
Beach and Guoco Tower by CapitaLand, MGPA, City Developments and GuocoLand, respectively.
As downtown Singapore grows, the office market will
become more diverse and complex with a shift from the
traditional centre of Raffles Place to Marina Bay.
The prominence of Marina Bay started with the development of Marina Bay Financial Centre and Asia Square
Tower 1, which provided modern infrastructure, state of
the art building design and improved amenities. The centrepiece for the Marina Bay office market is set to be Marina One, an iconic landmark designed by the worldrenowned architect Christoph Ingenhoven (whose other
projects include Google Headquarters at Mountain View)
and jointly managed by UEM Sunrise and Mapletree. Marina One is expected to anchor the new CBD while redefining the concept of downtown living in Singapore.
Supporting this new centre, the Marina Bay District
has the capacity to accommodate additional prime office
space in excess of 30 million sq ft, to be located adjacent
to the 101 ha Gardens by the Bay. This capacity gives Singapore a clear edge over other supply constrained cities
such as Hong Kong.
AYER RAJAH EXPRESSWAY ( AY E )
Source: Cushman And Wakefield Singapore
To the south of downtown, an office corridor has
emerged between Marina Bay/Raffles Place and Tanjong
Pagar . . . This corridor provides a wide range of
building grades to serve a variety of users, with rents
ranging between $6 and $9 per square foot per month.
The renaissance of Tanjong Pagar is clearly anchoring
this corridor.