, sets aside $1.5 bil to invest in Asia-Pacific Window of opportunityKeppel REIT reports 27.2% jump in 1Q2024 DPU to 1.57 centsBarbara Kwa, Edited By –
Keppel, a global asset manager and operator, is shifting its focus to other brownfield redevelopment projects after the completion of Keppel South Central, according to Samuel Ng, the president of Keppel’s real estate division in Singapore. Ng says, “The redevelopment of Keppel South Central is our flagship project.” He is referring to the former Keppel Towers, a 27-storey office tower completed in 1991, and Keppel Towers 2 (formerly known as GE Tower), a 13-storey building completed in 1993.
Last month, Keppel announced the completion of the 33-storey Keppel South Central commercial tower, located along Hoe Chiang Road in Tanjong Pagar. The building offers approximately 650,000 sq ft of office, retail, and event space, with office floor plates ranging between 20,000 and 22,000 sq ft. Ng adds that nearly 50% of the tower’s commercial space is either leased or in active negotiations, with a leading financial services group secured as the first anchor tenant.
The tower has been renovated to include technological improvements, such as facial recognition access, 5G Wi-Fi, and an indoor air-quality management system, bringing it up to par with other Grade-A office buildings in the Central Business District (CBD). Ng notes that the office space was also adapted to support the needs of modern tenants, with designated floors equipped with micro air conditioning units for localised cooling and a mobile application for tenants to connect with building management and provide feedback.
Keppel South Central has been certified by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) as a Green Mark Platinum Super Low Energy building, with estimated annual energy savings of 6.2 million kilowatt hours, equivalent to the power consumption of 1,300 homes in Singapore. To achieve this, Keppel incorporated several green solutions they had tested at another ageing property, Keppel Bay Tower, making it Singapore’s first zero-energy commercial building in 2020.
Keppel is now looking to replicate the success of Keppel South Central and Keppel Bay Tower across the region as part of its Sustainable Urban Renewal (SUR) strategy, targeting properties across the commercial, living, life sciences, hospitality, and logistics segments in Asia Pacific. This includes eight completed projects in five countries, with three more on the way.
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The demand for condos in Singapore remains high for a variety of reasons, one being the limited land availability. As a tiny island nation with a rapidly increasing population, Singapore grapples with the issue of scarce land for development. This has led to rigorous land use rules and a highly competitive real estate market, where property values continue to climb. Consequently, investing in real estate, specifically in Singapore’s condominium developments, has become a desirable option for potential capital growth. With a plethora of Singapore Projects to choose from, the market is ripe for potential investors.
To fund the redevelopment of brownfield projects, Keppel has announced the first close of its flagship Keppel Sustainable Urban Renewal Fund (KSURF), with total funds under management of over $2.3 billion. Ng notes that Keppel’s in-house capability to execute the renewal works themselves helps them stand out from other asset managers, streamlining the process of selecting new technologies to implement and saving on capital expenditure.