MEGAWORLD Corp. said it is increasing its capital spending for office towers in Fort Bonifacio by 15 percent to P23 billion, from the previous P20 billion, as it expands its office inventory close to 700,000 square meters (sq m) in the area.
Within the next two years, the company will have more than 30 office towers in Fort Bonifacio alone, said Jericho Go, the company’s SVP.
As a result, the company will accelerate its target of reaching 650,000 square meters to next year from its original goal of 2018.
The company may reach its target of 1 million sq m of office space all over the country in 2016 to 2017, a year earlier than expected. It will employ between 250,000 to 300,000 direct employees.
At the moment, it has 450,000 sq m of office space in Fort Bonifacio alone.
The company is expanding its office inventory in the rising township of McKinley West in the former military camp. From an initial 66,000 sq m of leasable office spaces to be offered by the six campus-type office towers—One West Campus, Two West Campus, Three West Campus, Five West Campus, Six West Campus and Eight West Campus—along the township’s Le Grand Avenue, a new high-rise office tower is being built to offer an additional 32,000 sq m of leasable office spaces.
To be called 10 West Campus, the new tower will stand 17 stories high, with 13 floors to be allocated for offices, three floors for podium parking and a ground floor dedicated to retail and recruitment centers for business-process outsourcing tenants.
“We are upbeat about McKinley West because this township stands in a very premium location right beside Forbes Park and has a convenient, fast access to the Makati Central Business District, C5 Road, South Luzon Expressway and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport,” Go said.
The six campus-type towers are already 70 percent preleased to mostly information technology and business process outsourcing companies. All of these towers will be fully leased by the second half of the year.
Almost a quarter of 10 West Campus is now precommitted. All office towers in McKinley West will be registered for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design of the US Green Building Council.
“We envision McKinley West as a sustainable, environment-friendly township. With this, we design our office towers in a way that they adhere and comply with the international standards on sustainability and green practices,” Go said.
The 34.5-hectare McKinley West features bike lanes, allowing office workers, as well as future residents to use bikes in a safe environment.