Arthaland’s BGC tower attracts multinational firms

By Arra B. Francia,
Reporter

ARTHALAND Corp. said it has fully leased out its P3.5-billion Century Pacific Tower in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), as it attracted many local units of multinational companies.

The listed property developer on Thursday unveiled its 30-storey office building, which covers a gross floor area of 41,790 square meters (sq.m.) and an average floor plate of 1,550.90 sq.m.

“We’ve leased out essentially 95%… We are reserving the 5% for internal use,” Arthaland President Jaime C. Gonzalez said in a press briefing during the tower’s launch yesterday, noting the building’s largest tenant occupies five floors.

Mr. Gonzalez noted tenants have lower density in their offices, which makes their operations more akin to traditional offices.

“So these are global in-house centers. They’re directly affiliated with the multinational group, not a third party operator. These are also local headquarters of the companies,” Arthaland Executive Vice-President and Treasurer Leonardo Arthur T. Po said during the briefing.

Asked on how much the rates are in the tower, Mr. Gonzalez said they are competitive, citing the average price of P1,000 to P1,300 per sq.m. for prime grade A buildings in the area.

Real estate consulting services Santos Knight Frank, Inc. earlier said rental rates in BGC are the second most expensive in the country with an average of P1,027.27 per sq.m., following rates in Makati City at P1,263.15 per sq.m.

The Century Pacific Tower is a green building certified both by the United States Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design in gold category, as well as the Philippine Green Building Council’s Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence program.

Arthaland has tapped SOM New York to design the building, which is the same group that designed the One World Trade Center in New York City, and Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

“This will serve as a legacy for the city of Manila and the Philippines, our way of honoring our country… there’s no better way of doing that but creating landmark in BGC but also a sustainable project that will give back in the long term,” Mr. Gonzalez said.

Arthaland’s attributable profit fell by 81% to P148.63 million in the first nine months of 2017, amid a 10% increase in revenues for the period to P359.92 million.

Shares in Arthaland gained two centavos or 2.38% to 86 centavos each at the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday.