http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/arch...tower-20130802

Published August 02, 2013

CapitaLand to put all units in Capital Tower

Firm drops plans for Westgate after strategic review

By jasmine ng


CAPITALAND Group will relocate all its business units to the company's headquarters at Capital Tower, instead of Jurong Gateway as it previously announced.

Employees will be relocated to the office tower in phases between 2014 and 2015. The decision was made after a "strategic review" of the total office space requirement and available options, the company said yesterday.

Currently, CapitaLand operates from several locations in the city, including Capital Tower, Robinson Point, AXA Tower and Wilkie Edge. Singapore's biggest property developer said last August that it planned to relocate to Jurong Gateway's Westgate Tower from early 2015.

"Sharing resources such as meeting, social and collaboration facilities in a single location helps to lower overheads. The different units would also be better able to hunt as a pack and respond more quickly to market opportunities," a CapitaLand spokesman told BT by e-mail.

Capital Tower is owned by CapitaCommercial Trust, Singapore's first listed commercial real estate investment trust, and managed by CapitaLand.

It has an area of about 741,000 square feet for which rent can be charged. Its tenants include the GIC Private Limited, JPMorgan Chase Bank and Cisco Systems.

CapitaLand will occupy nine floors, or a total of about 141,000 sq ft, of the 52-storey office building. "Capital Tower will offer a holistic and productive workplace to enhance staff interaction and a sense of belonging for our Singapore-based colleagues," said CapitaLand president and group chief executive officer Lim Ming Yan.

Westgate Tower, the building that CapitaLand had planned to relocate to, is part of a mixed development project jointly developed by CapitaMalls Asia, CapitaMall Trust Management and CapitaLand.

The lifestyle and family mall was expected to be opened by the end of this year, while the 320,000 sq ft office tower was slated for completion at the end of 2014.

CapitaLand had said earlier that it intended to maintain a city office at Capital Tower for staff who needed to liaise with clients of business partners in the city.