Makati Commerce Tower expected to welcome tenants by 3rd quarter of 2022
MAKATI COMMERCE Tower is on track to welcome its tenants by the third quarter of 2022, according to its developer BPEA (Baring Private Equity Asia) Real Estate.
BPEA Real Estate topped off the Makati Commerce Tower, its new 36-storey office development, on Nov. 25.
In an e-mailed statement, property consultant Colliers Philippines said the Grade A office development located along Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue is slated for completion in 2022 and it will be ready for its first tenants by the third quarter.
“This next-generation Grade A office building will set a new benchmark in terms of what occupiers can expect from their office space in the Philippines,” BPEA Real Estate Principal Lyndon Lim said in the statement.
Once completed, Colliers said the 58,000 square meters (sq.m.) “sustainable” office development will add over a third of the 146,000 sq.m. of new office spaces to be completed in Makati City next year.
“[Makati] remains a preferred destination of a lot of companies that are looking for office space. Of course, it’s important that they are located in a prime address, in a prime location,” Colliers Philippines Associate Director Joey Roi H. Bondoc said during the virtual briefing on Thursday.
Colliers noted that Makati City has one of the lowest office vacancy rates in Metro Manila at 289,000 sq.m.
“One trend that we have been seeing is really the absorption of office spaces that are really sustainable, that are healthy, that will optimize health benefits for employees,” Mr. Bondoc said.
The Makati Commerce Tower was also designed to be “future-proof.” It already boasts a LEED Gold certification at its 67.8% completion rate and it aims to secure a LEED Platinum upon completion and once it meets international ASHRAE standards.
Colliers said this would mean the building would maintain an “enhanced indoor air quality” for its tenants.
Makati Commerce Tower will feature ultraviolet (UV) systems for sanitizing indoor air quality as well as technology to help tenants save 22% in electricity consumption.
The tower will also have a double-glazed Low-E glass facade to help regulate heat in indoor spaces, without compromising the entry of natural light. The building’s facade was said to be inspired by barcodes, channeling the “notion of data processing and information technology (IT).”
The building’s base will have a 10-storey “living green wall,” which will be visible from the street.
“Given the global pandemic, [BPEA] has further enhanced the building design with COVID-mitigation provision such as contactless access from the ground floor, to the carpark floors, and to all the office floors and this also goes to all the bathrooms with contactless access,” BPEA Real Estate Managing Director Malcolm Lai said during the briefing.
Meanwhile, its destination-control elevators and escalators will have UV sanitizers. The same technology is also used for air conditioning units. It will also have IT and back-up power infrastructure to better cater to IT-business process outsourcing firms.
The tower will have 25 floors of office space, which will be “column-free” to offer tenants flexibility to design their own offer spaces.
The building will have a total of 784 parking slots, which will be distributed through its eight podium parking levels and two-level basement parking. It will also feature parking areas for bicycles, shower facilities, and charging ports for electric vehicles.
The ground and the second floors will be dedicated to retail amenities, with a “food and beverage hub” on the 11th floor. There will be a “cafe-bar” at the rooftop terrace and a sky garden on the 36th floor.
“It gives views to the city-wide environment in connection to the skyline of Manila. This will provide valuable breakout spaces for the tenants and extend the range of usable collaboration spaces for users, offering them fresh air, outdoor space, and change of interior environments,” Stephen Jones, director at global architecture firm Woods Bagot, said during the briefing.
“This is essential to development of healthy buildings in our cities.” — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte
