Old business parks launch aggressive makeovers to catch up with high-spec youngsters

Overall occupancy improved in Q1.

Old business parks have embarked on aggressive asset enhancement initiatives (AEIs) to help narrow the widening leasing gap between existing older business parks and newer ones.

Data from CBRE showed that AEIs were completed at The Signature, 1 Changi Busines Park Ave 1, Creative Building and Plaza 8.

This led to an increase in leasing activity in the older business parks in recent quarters such as UBS which took up approximately 110,000 sf at Hansapoint and Huawei which took up 20,000 sf at 1 Changi Business Park Ave 1.

CBRE noted that the expansion of the infocomm technology, pharmaceutical and tech sectors boosted net absorption in business parks in Q1. About 0.91 million sf of business park space was taken up by occupiers in Q1, causing vacancy rates to fall from 11.7% to 10.4%.