MEGAWORLD Corp., the property development arm of businessman Andrew Tan, on Tuesday said it is constructing a 25-story, build-to-suit office building for the Philippine global service center of JPMorgan Chase Bank.
The building will have an estimated 70,000 square meters of gross leasable area. Megaworld claimed it will become the country’s biggest single office lease transaction in terms of total space leased to a single company and transaction value.
“Megaworld is proud to build the new home of JPMorgan Chase 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,” said Jericho P. Go, the company’s senior vice president.
The company did not provide figures of its deal and the cost of development.
“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 R. Teh, CEO for the bank’s Philippine global service center.
The new development is located along 38th Street corner 9th Avenue in Uptown Bonifacio.
Megaworld’s property sits beside Bonifacio Global City. It is 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.
It features efficient office floors, using technology in building design. It also applied for LEED Gold certification. The facility is designed by United Kingdom-based award-winning architectural firm Broadway Malyan.
To be completed in 2021, the tower will be ready for full operations by 2022.
Megaworld remains the country’s largest developer of office spaces with a leasable office portfolio of 1.2 million square meters to date. It has already completed 54 office towers across the Philippines.