The builder of the world's tallest building, Taipei 101, yesterday announced that monthly rental rates for the 508m skyscraper will be NT$3,200 per ping, with 33 percent of the 58,000-ping space already booked.
"We think the rate is reasonable in the market, considering our prestige and world-class facilities," Cathy Yang (楊文琪), assistant vice president of Taipei Financial Center Corp (台北金融大樓公司), told a press briefing yesterday.
"We expect to reach a 95 percent occupancy rate within two years after the opening this November," Yang said.
The NT$3,200 monthly rental rate is mainly offered for offices in 19th to 33rd floors, with rates for the 9th through 19th floors set at about NT$3,000 per ping, Yang said.
Office space above the 33rd floor will cost more than NT$3,200 because of its better views, Yang said. Final rates will vary according to the offers from prospective tenants and the space to be rented, she said. The monthly maintenance fee is NT$260 per ping.
With around 58,000 ping of office space between the building's ninth and 84th floors, the Taipei 101 tower has reserved 30 percent of its space for shareholders that are interested in moving into the building.
In other words, about 42,000 ping will be released onto the leasing market, said Sherry Wu (吳瑤華), manager of Jones Lang LaSalle Taiwan, the primary leasing agent for the tower.
The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (證交所), a shareholder and major tenant of the skyscraper, probably will take the ninth floor, Yang said. She refused to reveal other possible tenants, but said shareholders as well as large multinational companies have showed a great interest in locating in one of the world's landmark buildings.
Major Taipei 101 shareholders include the China Development Industrial Bank Inc (中華開發), Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託), Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) and other financial institutions.
Taipei Financial Center had reserved the tower's 59th to 84th floors for a proposed hotel project, but progress in securing interested hoteliers has come to a halt in the face of technical difficulties in transforming office space into hotel facilities.
Several hoteliers, including Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis and Le Meridien, were previously reported to be vying for a spot to become one of the world's highest hotels.
At a property seminar on Monday, Billy Yen (顏炳立), general manager of DTZ Debenham Tie Leung International Property Advisers, estimated that monthly rentals in Taipei 101 should be around NT$2,200 per ping.
Another real-estate veteran also said the rates proposed by Taipei 101 are just for reference. "I bet the final deal will be no higher than NT$2,400 per ping," said Hsu I-hsiang (許依祥), director of brokerage services at CB Richard Ellis.
CB Richard Ellis released a report earlier this month indicating that Taipei prime office monthly rental rates hit NT$2,213 per ping in the year's first quarter, a 0.1 percent rise from the same period last year. This report suggested that rentals are stabilizing at current levels.
The emerging real estate market in the Neihu District, where rental rates are comparatively lower than those in the Hsinyi District, may attract large tenants that are also targeted clients of Taipei 101, Hsu said.
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