Centropolis seeks foreign tenants
Centropolis, a prime office building opening in downtown Seoul next year, is scrambling to find tenants for its 26-story twin towers amid the city’s high office vacancy rate.
In particular, the developer wants to lease space to big-name multinational companies, online game developers, e-commerce operators and others in the booming industries to raise the building’s commercial value.
“When Centropolis is completed by June 2018, it will become a new landmark in Seoul, like the POSCO building in southern Seoul,” said Lee Eun-ho, a senior managing director at CTCORE, Centropolis’ developer.
“This prime office building is located at the heart of Seoul, sitting on a 7,900 square-meter site. We have no doubt that it will soon be one of the city’s well-known business structures.”
Centropolis is next to Jongno Tower in Insa-dong, one of Seoul’s popular tourist destinations. The building will be 114 meters high and have restaurants and other amenities. The entire third floor will house a gym and other facilities that tenants can use free of charge.
“We raised 740 billion won ($643.5 million) in project financing to purchase the site and construct the buildings,” Lee said. “We estimate the twin structure will be worth more than 1 trillion won.
“To be more precise, its value will be determined largely by our ability to attract blue-chip tenants. CTCORE will decide later this year whether to sell the structure or continue to maintain ownership.”
Andy Park, a senior director at sales agency CBRE Korea, said the firm has been talking with several local units of multinational companies and large domestic firms seeking to locate scattered offices in one place.
“We will soon launch an aggressive marketing campaign to find tenants,” he said. “We are negotiating with several foreign businesses looking to relocate to a new prime office building in downtown Seoul. We will be able to sign lease contracts with many Korean and non-Korean firms before the completion.”
Seoul’s office market, which has been struggling with oversupply over the past few years, will begin to rebound this year, according to Park, who said things would be much better for Centropolis when it opens next year.