New BGC office property boosts CPG revenue

Antonio family-led Century Properties Group (CPG) is seen to generate P500 million in fresh recurring revenue yearly from its newest BGC office property, Asian Century Center (ACC), the fifth office building in its portfolio to secure a Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) accreditation.

As of its inauguration on Dec. 18, the 21-story “green” building ACC—which has a net leasable area of 29,628 square meters—was already 75-percent leased out to a mix of technology, business process outsourcing and e-commerce firms.

Once fully leased out as early as 2019, ACC will generate P500 million in gross revenue based on an assumed monthly leasing rate of at least P1,200 per sqm. “But for the last few floors, we’re expecting more than that,” CPG cochief operating officer Marco Antonio said in a briefing. “We’re also speaking to a few corporations [tenants].”

Based on an assumed ratio of six employees to a square meter footprint, Antonio estimated that the new office property could host 5,000 employees of various tenants.

This is in line with CPG’s goal to triple its leasable portfolio to 300,000 sqm by 2020.

By 2020 to 2021, CPG would have reached its goal of having 30 to 40 percent of total business from recurring earnings from its leasing portfolio, Antonio said.

The 1.6-billion ACC is located at the 27th Street corner 3rd Avenue in BGC. Asian Carmakers Corp., CPG’s joint venture partner for this property, plans to put up a showroom of Peugeot at the ground floor.

“We are very pleased with the outcome and early success of Asian Century Center. We thank the Asian Carmakers Corp. for a fruitful partnership and our project stakeholders who gave their trust and support in us. The addition of this green building into the office inventory of BGC and Taguig City is quite timely as more companies look for well-designed and efficient office spaces to locate in,” CPG chair and chief executive officer Jose E.B. Antonio said.

ACC has met Peza’s strict requirements of 100-percent power backup, provision for high-speed internet and infrastructure and a building management system. Very few office buildings in Metro Manila are now bagging Peza accreditation as the ecozone regulating agency has tightened its screening and encouraging investors to build outside Metro Manila.

The tower has been precertified for the core and shell rating of Leed (or the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), a globally recognized green building and sustainability certification system. Precertification is awarded to projects with achievable sustainable targets that demonstrate the project’s commitment to Leed certification. Asian Century Center is now working towards a LEED “silver” status.

Real estate brokerage services firm Leechiu Property Consultants is the appointed exclusive leasing manager for ACC.

Aside from ACC, the 58,618-sqm Century Diamond Tower is slated to open in 2019, further increasing the group’s leasable portfolio.