Klang Valley, Malaysia records 111.4m sq ft of office supply as of H1

Another 10 office buildings are slated for completion in H2.

Klang Valley in Malaysia currently has around 111.4 million sq ft of cumulative office supply as of 1H2022 following the completions of Affin Tower @ TRX, The Stride Strata Office and UOB Tower 2 in KL City and Block G of Empire City in Selangor.

According to a report by Knight Frank, Affin Tower is a 43-storey office building located within the financial district of TRX offering 613,000 sq ft of net lettable area (NLA). The GBI-certified and MSC Malaysia status office tower has typical floor plates of 16,000 sq ft to 17,000 sq ft.

Also located in KL City, The Stride Strata Office with circa 443,000 sq ft of NLA forms part of the mixed-use development of Bukit Bintang City Centre (BBCC) – being the redevelopment of the former Pudu Prison. The single 46-storey block offers 265 units of strata offices with built-up areas ranging from 1,087 sq ft to 11,000 sq ft.

Meanwhile, the newly completed 29-storey UOB Tower 2 at Jalan Raja Laut offers circa 377,000 sq ft of NLA. It incorporates five levels of basement car park and a banking hall spread over two levels of podium.

Block G of Empire City is the only completion in Selangor. Located off Jalan Damansara, it forms part of a mixed-use development on freehold land spanning circa 9.3 hectares. The office building, which is connected to a 2.5 million sq ft retail podium, offers circa 137,950 sq ft of NLA. 

Here’s more from Knight Frank:

By the second half of 2022, another 10 office buildings are scheduled for completion - six located in KL City and two each in KL Fringe and Selangor. Upcoming completions in KL City are Felcra Tower, PNB 1194, Pavilion Embassy Corporate Tower and Corporate Suites, V2 Corporate Office Tower (Velocity 2) and Merdeka 118 Tower while in KL Fringe, they are The MET Corporate Towers and Aspire Tower. The impending completions in Selangor are Empire City Block J and Office Towers @ Atwater. Collectively, these completions will add circa 6.1 million sq ft of space to Klang Valley’s existing cumulative office stock.

Despite growing challenges in the office market, the overall occupancy rate of purpose-built office space in KL City improved to record at 67.2% during 1H2022(p) (2H2021: 66.0%). Similarly, the occupational demand in KL Fringe was also slightly higher at 86.8% (2H2021: 86.1%). However, the overall occupancy rate in Selangor declined marginally during the review period to record at 74.1% (2H2021: 74.6%). 

There were several notable office-related announcements during the review period.

TIME dotCom Bhd recently purchased Bangunan KWSP in central Kuala Lumpur for RM62 million and is expected to repurpose the office building into a data centre as the acquired building is located just a block away from Menara AIMS (TIME’s flagship and fully-occupied data centre) and would thus, enjoy the same location appeal. The capital expenditure (CAPEX) for repurposing is significant, and a few years of gestation is expected.

Menara ABS Bhd (MABS), a trust-owned special-purpose entity sponsored by Telekom Malaysia Bhd, intends to sell three of the four office buildings that it owns. The three office buildings are Menara Telekom Malaysia (TM), Menara TM Semarak and Wisma TM Taman Desa. They are offered for sale via an Expression of Interest and Tender exercise. The properties form part of the portfolio of Islamic Sale and Leaseback transactions involved in the issuance of Islamic Asset-Backed Sukuk Ijarah (known as “ABS Fund”).

HSBC Malaysia, in line with its relocation to the new headquarters in Menara IQ at Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) and its commitment to the Future of Work (FOW) model, has moved to a hybrid work model. The hybrid work model is part of the group’s global initiative to improve wellbeing, provide more flexibility and also to reduce the global office footprint. In Malaysia alone, HSBC has invested more than RM1 billion into Menara IQ as part of its commitment to enhance focus on work flexibility, providing a fit for purpose modern working environment, and integrating the highest standards of environmental sustainability.

The shift of Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) to Finance Avenue at i-City in Shah Alam, Selangor, will act as a catalyst for Fintech and Chinese enterprises to operate there. Maybank is relocating roughly 1,500 employees to Mercu Maybank, a Grade-A Green Building Index (GBI) smart office tower located at Finance Avenue at i-City, as part of the group’s efforts to improve its business continuity management and resilience planning. It will occupy 14 floors totalling 162,000 sq ft. Mercu Maybank’s luxury corporate office design, security features, and GBI certification aligned with the banking group’s sustainability commitments.

Colony Space Asia Sdn Bhd has signed a six-year co-working space deal with integrated car e-commerce platform Carsome, involving 41,860 sq ft of office space across four floors of KYM Tower in Mutiara Damansara. Colony labelled the deal as the biggest in Malaysia’s co-working space industry. The office space to house Carsome’s expanded headquarters will be built and managed by Colony. Carsome has been one of its anchor tenants in Colony@ Mutiara Damansara since 2019. In addition to this deal, Colony has also provided Carsome with an option to further increase its workspace by 33% during the six-year period of the deal. 

Air Liquide has launched its new head office for its Malaysia operations at 1Power House in Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. The new head office will host a total of 450 employees from Air Liquide Malaysia and Cryogenic Tank Services, which support the local operations in the country, and APAC Global Services (AGS) head office which provides shared services for Air Liquide entities across over 14 countries in the Asia-Pacific. Air Liquide’s long-term presence reflected great confidence and reinforced Malaysia as the regional services hub location of choice in Asia.

Sunway Bhd has unveiled Corporate Suite@19 workspace, which is part of the US$60 million (RM251.2 million) transformation of the group’s flagship five- star hotel, Sunway Resort. The open-plan Grade A office is located on the highest level of Sunway Resort. It will showcase almost 3,000 sq m of open-plan working space — the largest in Sunway City. The high-performance office space, which has MSC Cybercentre status, comes equipped with a raised floor system and dual feed power supply.