SEVERAL notable office leasing deals have surfaced in the market in recent months, even as the Singapore office market this year has continued to see a dearth of big transactions of 100,000 square feet (sq ft) or more.

Brokerage UOB Kay Hian is expected to relocate from the Anthony Road/Scotts Road area to UE Square in the River Valley area next year.

Meanwhile, Baker McKenzie and Bain & Company have inked deals that will help fill some of the space vacated by Meta in South Beach Tower. IOI Central Boulevard Towers has also caught up and bagged a slew of tenants.

UOB Kay Hian declined to comment on its move to UE Square when contacted by The Business Times.

Market information on the square footage that the brokerage is taking at UE Square is unclear. However, observers suggest that its lease may include some of the space to be vacated by WeWork. The co-working space operator will not be renewing its lease for its space at UE Square when it expires in 2025; the space, across three levels, is said to amount to about 51,200 sq ft.

UOB Kay Hian developed the four-storey office building at Anthony Road on a 15-year leasehold transitional office site, which was clinched at a state tender in 2008. The property also has frontage on Scotts Road.

The lease for the site expired in July 2023. However, the Singapore Land Authority has granted extensions until some time in 2025 for this property, as well as two other transitional office developments in the locale.

“We’re confident the building will be fully committed within the first half of 2025.” —DAVID TIBBOTT ON IOI CENTRAL BOULEVARD TOWERS

In other office relocations, Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow is understood to have leased about 40,000 sq ft at South Beach Tower. It will be moving out of Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) Tower 1, where it is understood to have a head lease for about 50,000 sq ft that will expire around mid-2025. Of this space, the law firm has sublet 10,000 sq ft.

South Beach Consortium – the City Developments and IOI Properties Group joint venture which developed the mixed-use project in Beach Road – declined to comment. JLL, which is said to have brokered the law firm’s lease at South Beach Tower, also declined to comment.

The move is expected to result in a rental saving and will see the law firm moving into levels 22, 23 and part of 24 of South Beach Tower. The space is part of the 115,000 sq ft previously leased to Meta, on seven levels in the high zone of the 34-storey building.

The tech giant did not renew its lease in the building when it expired at the end of September this year. Back in June 2023, Meta had already given confirmation to South Beach Tower’s landlord that it would not be renewing the lease.

A few existing tenants in the building are also on the expansion path. Bain & Company, which currently occupies about 27,000 sq ft feet on one and a half levels in the low zone, will be relocating to two floors in the high zone adding up to nearly 33,000 sq ft, BT understands.

These are also spaces previously occupied by Meta. CBRE, which is understood to have brokered the deal, declined to comment.

Word in the market is that Lego, which currently occupies about 45,000 sq ft on South Beach Tower’s levels 12, 13 and part of level 14, is poised to take the current Bain space. This will expand Lego’s total footprint in South Beach Tower to about 75,000 sq ft.

In the Central Business District, CBRE is expected to exit Six Battery Road and move into level 16 of MBFC Tower 1. The 21,400 sq ft floor was previously leased to Marina Bay Sands.

Advertising and communications giant WPP will be moving from transitional office premises at 50 Scotts Road, near Newton MRT station, to the 45,000 sq ft of fully fitted-out space vacated by Amazon at One George Street.

Bank of New York on the move?

All eyes are also on Bank of New York, which is expected to move out of Millenia Tower – where it occupies about 51,000 sq ft – and head for Marina One.

BT understands that IOI Central Boulevard Towers, which received Temporary Occupation Permit this year, has seen a string of leasing deals this year.

Allied World Assurance, which has taken 22,640 sq ft in the development, will relocate from Mapletree Anson. Other tenants signed up are said to include Ripple Labs and Qube Research & Technologies, each taking a floor of 23,500 sq ft in the ultra-high zone of the development’s West Tower.

A few law firms are also heading for the development, including A&O Shearman (about 30,000 sq ft), which will move from OUE Bayfront. Linklaters has leased nearly 40,000 sq ft and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, about 15,000 sq ft.

David Tibbott, managing director of asset management at IOI Properties Singapore, said: “We have added about 400,000 sq ft of commitments to IOI Centra Boulevard Towers this year and that attests to the quality of this asset.”

Including the 369,000 sq ft leased to Amazon and 105,000 sq ft leased to Morgan Stanley earlier, the development’s 1.26 million sq ft net lettable area of office space is now 75 per cent committed.

“We’re confident the building will be fully committed within the first half of 2025,” added Tibbott.

Amazon and Morgan Stanley have moved into IOI Central Boulevard Towers, as has Scotland-based alcoholic beverage company Edrington, which occupies about 15,000 sq ft.

IOI Central Boulevard Towers comprises a seven-storey podium block with two office floors, retail space and amenities. Above the podium are two office towers. The East Tower rises to 16 storeys with nine levels of offices. The West Tower, rising to 48 storeys, has 40 levels of offices.

The project was developed by a Singapore-incorporated subsidiary of Bursa Malaysia-listed IOI Properties Group.