Megaworld Corp. has bagged a deal to build in Fort Bonifacio an “iconic” 25-story office tower for the global shared services operations of American banking giant JP Morgan Chase.
The build-to-suit building will have about 70,000 square meters of leasable space, Megaworld said in a statement on Tuesday.
JP Morgan’s new business process outsourcing hub is expected to be completed in 2021 and ready for full operations by 2022.
“Megaworld is proud to build the new home of JPMorgan Chase in Fort Bonifacio as it consolidates its existing Metro Manila operations under one roof—all in a state-of-the-art, prime and green office tower right at the heart of the booming Uptown Bonifacio. This multibillion-peso deal with a single company is the biggest in the country’s office leasing industry,” Megaworld senior vice president Jericho Go said.
“Manila continues to be a major strategic hub for JPMorgan Chase. Through this landmark development, we are able to consolidate our presence to one location, so enabling us to bring our Manila-based employees together, facilitating increased collaboration while also demonstrating our commitment to providing them with various career opportunities within the firm,” said Raoul Teh, chief executive officer for JP Morgan’s Philippine Global Service Center.
“We are excited to be part of this new development that sets new benchmarks for sustainability and reaffirms our global efforts to maintaining exceptional working environments with only the best-in-class infrastructure and facilities for our employees,” said Jun Nepomuceno, Asia Pacific head of JP Morgan’s global real estate team.
The new office tower will rise along 38th Street corner 9th Avenue in Uptown Bonifacio, a few meters away from the future Uptown Transport Hub beside Kalayaan Avenue, the proposed Skytrain monorail system that connects Taguig’s Fort Bonifacio to Makati, as well as the future Kalayaan Station of the Mega Manila Subway and the Fort Bonifacio Bus Rapid Transit System.
Designed by UK-based award-winning architectural firm Broadway Malyan, the building features “highly efficient” office floors and “innovative” technology in building design. The property has applied for green building certification under LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).
Megaworld is a leading developer of office space in the country, with a leasable office portfolio of about 1.2 million square meters to date. It has completed 54 office towers in key growth areas in Metro Manila, Cebu, Iloilo, Laguna and Davao. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA