Megaworld to boost leasing portfolio

MANILA, Philippines—Property developer Megaworld Corp. is set to scale up its office leasing portfolio this year with the completion of six new office towers with a combined office space of 112,000 square meters, cementing its position as the leading office developer and landlord.

Megaworld, the country’s top office property developer based on data from property consulting firm Colliers, is expected to end 2014 with a total office space stock of 712,000 sqm with the 18.7-percent increased inventory coming on stream this year.

“Megaworld remains committed to be the leading office space provider in the Philippines. Year after year, we are looking into aggressively expanding our office space inventory to increase our rental income,” company first vice president Jericho Go said on Wednesday.

In a briefing, Go said Megaworld was beefing up its office space inventory by at least 100,000 sqm to meet strong demand especially from the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector. This includes demand from existing tenants that are expanding their local operations as well as demand from a new client base.

The additional office space in six buildings that Megaworld will bring to the property market this 2014 include Uptown Tower 1 and 2 in northern Fort Bonifacio, each with 30,000 sqm; 8 Newtown Office Tower in The Mactan Newtown, 30,000 sqm; Two World Center in The Mactan Newtown, 7,000 sqm; IBP BPO Building A in Iloilo Business Park, 10,000 sqm; and Richmonde Office Tower, with 5,000 sqm.

A research by Colliers International said Megaworld remained as the country’s top office space provider with a share of 23 percent of the leasing business and a 27-percent share of total leasable space.—Doris C. Dumlao