Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) Tower 2 is almost fully leased, after an existing tenant took on more space and a new one came on board.
Prudential Asset Management in Singapore will be leasing one and a half floors at the building, which works out to about 37,000 sq ft of space. It will move in 2011 on a nine-year lease period.
Meanwhile, Barclays Capital, which already signed a 10-year lease at MBFC Tower 2, has asked for additional space.
In April 2008, it committed to rent four floors at the building, or around 100,000 sq ft of space. It has more than tripled its commitment to 14 floors or around 350,000 sq ft of space.
Barclays Capital, which now has offices at One Raffles Quay (ORQ), will move in to MBFC Tower 2 in the first quarter of 2011, but will retain its space at ORQ.
Raffles Quay Asset Management manages both MBFC and ORQ. Mr. Quek Suan Kiat, director of Barclays Capital, said: “Our existing relationship with the landlord, and the proximity of MBFC Tower 2 to our current office space at ORQ, were key factors in our choice of location.”
MBFC Tower 2 is fully leased “except for a small percentage of space reserved for existing tenants’ expansion,” according to Raffles Quay Asset Management.
However, it refused to reveal which tenants could take on more space and how much space it is setting aside. Other tenants at MBFC Tower 2 include Nomura, BHP Billiton and Macquarie.
“Monthly rents at MBFC are in line with the current market rates,” said Raffles Quay Asset Management. According to a recent report by CBRE, monthly rents of Grade A offices averaged to $8 psf in Q1 2010, down slightly from $8.10 psf per month a quarter ago.
Moray Armstrong, office services executive director of CBRE, said: “As we emerged from the recent recession, occupiers that had necessarily held off decisions on premises started to gear up to take advantage of competitive rents.”
The consultancy firm was involved in getting Barclays Capital, Nomura and Prudential Asset Management to secure space at MBFC.