One Vertis Plaza set to become QC’s premiere office address

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Associate Editor

QUEZON CITY will soon have its first AAA, premium-grade office building, as Ayala Land Premier (ALP) starts work on One Vertis Plaza within the Vertis North complex.

Towering over the Vertis North skyline, the 43-storey One Vertis Plaza is poised to become the city’s premiere corporate address when it is completed by the second quarter of 2024.

“With our newest project, we’re able to expand our portfolio beyond the residential,” Paolo O. Viray, ALP head of sales and marketing, said during a briefing last Aug. 13.

One Vertis Plaza is the luxury developer’s first foray into office spaces for sale.

Asked what took ALP so long to venture into the office sector, ALP Managing Director Joseph Carmichael Z. Jugo said the company wanted to secure the right location and they found it in Vertis North.

“A growing demand for high-quality, headquarter-type corporate offices, coupled with Vertis North’s unrivaled accessibility to major thoroughfares, transportation hubs, and commercial centers presented an ideal address for ALP’s pioneer office tower,” he said.

Bordered by major thoroughfares EDSA and North Avenue, Vertis North was the perfect location for the project. It is also near an existing Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 station and the Unified Grand Central Station that is currently under construction. The central station will link MRT Lines 3 and 7, Light Rail Transit Line 1 and the Metro Manila Subway.

Vertis North, which was launched in 2012, now has high-rise condominiums, a Seda hotel, a shopping mall and corporate offices.

The Vertis North Corporate Center has over 123,000 square meters (sq.m.) of leasable office space in three towers, plus another two towers planned.

Below the corporate center is Ayala Malls Vertis North, which has more than 40,000 sq.m. of gross leasable space. Across from the mall is Seda Vertis North, which has 438 hotel rooms, conference rooms and a ballroom.

Ayala residential brands Alveo and Avida have also launched nine residential towers with nearly 7,000 units.

A two-hectare park called Vertis North Gardens is also being developed. Similar to the Ayala Triangles in Makati City, the wonderful park is meant to be the “green lung” giving residents and employees in the area a space to walk and relax.

BUILDING FEATURES
One Vertis Plaza will rise at the south end of the Vertis North Gardens.

“It has an all-glass facade that provides a timeless, elegant design. We expect this building to look good 20 years from now,” Mr. Viray said.

Aidea, Inc. was tapped as the architect and interior designer for the project.

One Vertis Plaza will have a sprawling motorcourt and a double volume-height lobby that will give tenants a grand sense of arrival. It will have 19 elevators, including 16 high-speed lifts with a destination control system.

The Plaza will feature restaurants and cafes that open up to the Vertis North Gardens, while The Square will be the main food hall.

One Vertis Plaza offers prime office spaces ranging from 101 to 325 square meters in floor area. There are 200 units available in the Mid Zone (5^th to 25^th floors) and 130 units in the High Zone (26^th to 38^th floors) — all for sale.

For the top floors or the Executive Zone (39^th to 43^rd floors), ALP will retain ownership of the 42 units which will be leased out.

While the nearby Vertis North Corporate Center already caters to business process outsourcing firms, One Vertis Plaza is looking to attract companies that need headquarter-type corporate offices in Quezon City — often considered the gateway to the north.

Mr. Jugo said companies in manufacturing, food, and pharmaceutical industries have already invested in the building. He noted these are companies that are looking to set up their headquarters, upgrade their existing offices, or open an extension office to cater to clients in Quezon City and north of Metro Manila.

As of August, the average selling price at One Vertis Plaza is P352,193 per square meters. ALP officials said nearly 70% of the available office spaces have been taken up.