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Next Article Sold at $1,569 psf: Unit at AMK industrial building on sale for $1 mil without GST Article rewritten:The homegrown asset manager and operator Keppel is shifting its focus to other brownfield redevelopment projects after the completion of its latest flagship development, Keppel South Central. According to Samuel Ng, the president of Keppel’s real estate division in Singapore, the redevelopment of Keppel South Central will serve as their showpiece.Mr. Ng is referring to Keppel Towers, a 27-storey office tower completed in 1991, and Keppel Towers 2, a 13-storey building completed in 1993. Keppel announced the completion of the 33-storey commercial tower, Keppel South Central, last month. This building, located along Hoe Chiang Road in Tanjong Pagar, offers about 650,000 square feet of office, retail, and event space. Its office floor plates range between 20,000 and 22,000 square feet, with a clear ceiling height of 3.2 meters.AdvertisementMoreover, almost half of the office space and retail units in the commercial tower have been either leased or in active negotiations. The first anchor tenant, a leading financial services group, has leased two whole floors with office occupants expected to start moving in from June. The ground floor of the tower also boasts retail and event spaces.Mr. Ng emphasized that the former Keppel Towers lacked certain facilities that are now present in Keppel South Central. These include designated wellness spaces on the fifth and sixth floors, a landscaped terrace on the 18th floor, end-of-trip facilities on Basement 1, and shared facilities such as a swimming pool on the second floor. Additionally, the tower is equipped with modern amenities such as facial recognition access, 5G Wi-Fi, and an indoor air-quality management system. These improvements were introduced to cater to the needs of modern tenants and support after-hours operations.Mr. Ng also highlighted that the mobile application used to connect with facilities and building management can also be used to engage directly with the tenants. This allows for gathering feedback and hosting events based on their interests.AdvertisementKeppel South Central has been awarded the highest level, Green Mark Platinum Super Low Energy building, by BCA for its incorporation of green initiatives. These include minimal heat transfer into the building through treated external windows and a smart building management system to optimize energy usage. Keppel estimates annual energy savings to be approximately 6.2 million kilowatt hours, translating to $1.8 million in savings.Ng shared that this development was inspired by their renovation of another ageing property, Keppel Bay Tower, which was built in 2002. In 2018, Keppel Land received a BCA grant to test five new technologies in the building, resulting in being the first zero-energy commercial building in Singapore in 2020. He added that this experience had equipped Keppel with useful knowledge that could be applied to various buildings worldwide.AdvertisementKeppel is now looking to apply the SUR strategy to similar brownfield projects in the Asia Pacific region. According to Ng, the supply of office buildings completed in the 1990s or earlier in the Asia Pacific is huge. He believes that sustainability-focused retrofits will be the key to maximize potential in these ageing buildings. The first close of the flagship Keppel Sustainable Urban Renewal Fund (KSURF) was announced in April, with funds under management amounting to over $2.3 billion. KSURF will target properties in Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and first-tier cities in China.Mr. Ng emphasized that Keppel’s in-house capability to execute the renewal works themselves will give them an edge over other asset managers. The fund envisions acquiring assets to complete asset enhancement, stabilize occupancy, and divest within the fund’s seven-year life. To date, Keppel has applied the SUR initiative on eight projects, three of which are pending completion. The completed ones include Keppel South Central, Keppel Bay Towers, Park Avenue Central, The Kube, and Saigon Centre. The three pending for completion are Ocean Financial Centre, Inno88 Tower, and Kohinoor.