Megaworld to invest P20B in Fort Boni projects

Tycoon Andrew Tan-led property developer Megaworld Corp. is spending P20 billion to complete a dozen new office towers in Fort Bonifacio, more than doubling its office space inventory in Metro Manila’s hottest new central business district by 2018.

This suggests that in three years’ time, Fort Bonifacio will account for the bulk of Megaworld’s projected office stock of about a million square meters (sqms), making this area a significant contributor to its leasing portfolio.

“We remain upbeat in maintaining our leadership as the biggest developer and lessor of office space in the country. By 2018, our total office space inventory in Fort Bonifacio alone will reach 650,000 sqms, still making us the leading office developer in this booming district,” Megaworld senior vice president Jericho Go said in a briefing on Tuesday.

Office rental rates in Fort Bonifacio range from P700 to P900 per sqm per month. Assuming that the higher end of the range will remain as the rental benchmark by 2018, Fort Bonifacio is expected to contribute at least P7 billion to Megaworld’s annual recurring income by then.

Megaworld is expecting annual rental income to breach the P10-billion mark starting 2016 as it further expands its office and mall portfolio in various townships.

In Fort Bonifacio, the group currently has about 300,000 sqms in office stock.

The 12 new office buildings which will be completed through 2018 will be located in three of Megaworld’s four township projects in the former military camp.

Four office towers are currently being built in Uptown Bonifacio, the company’s 15.4-hectare integrated urban township in the northern part of Fort Bonifacio near Kalayaan Avenue. These are the 15-storey Uptown Tower 1 (30,000 sqm); the 15-storey Uptown Tower 2 (30,000 sqm); the 20-storey Uptown Tower 3 (40,000 sqm); and the 25-storey Alliance Global Tower (50,000 sqm), which will serve as corporate headquarters of the companies under parent conglomerate Alliance Global Group Inc.

“We envision Uptown Bonifacio to rise as a bustling CBD of Fort Bonifacio. At present, several multinational companies have already signed up to set up their operations here. Uptown Towers 1, 2 and 3 are now 90 percent leased out even before we have completed the delivery of the said towers,” Go said.

Go said tenants were locking in office space for 10 to 15 years.

Megaworld is also building six more campus-type office towers in its new township, the 34.5-hectare McKinley West: One West Campus, Two West Campus, Three West Campus, Five West Campus, Six West Campus and Eight West Campus. Each tower will have five storeys with 10,000 sqms of leasable office space.

Two more office towers in Fort Bonifacio will add about 140,000 square meters to the company’s office space inventory through 2018.

Megaworld’s office inventory in Fort Bonifacio is currently concentrated in its existing 19 office towers in McKinley Hill covering around 300,000 sqms. The company remains the country’s biggest office developer and landlord with about 712,000 sqms in office space inventory, mostly leased to IT-business process outsourcing (BPO) companies.

At present, Megaworld has more than 130 companies in its portfolio of office tenant partners.