28 July 2015

Hong Leong Group to site global HQ at Damansara City

Source: Damansara City website.

GuocoLand Malaysia's flagship development, Damansara City, has been chosen as the future home for the Hong Leong Group’s global headquarters. The 33-storey Grade-A office tower block in the southwest (direction) end of the iconic development, will be the star anchor tenant within Damansara City once it is fully occupied by the end of second quarter next year.

The Hong Leong Group is a major conglomerate based in Malaysia, with businesses in banking & financial services, manufacturing & distribution, property development & investment, hospitality & leisure, and principal investment. The Group controls listed companies with hundreds of operating subsidiaries and associate companies in North and Southeast Asia, Western Europe and the UK, as well as North America and Oceania.

Damansara City is an integrated city development consisting of two Grade-A office towers; two towers of luxury residences known as DC Residency; an F&B-centric lifestyle mall; and a 5-star hotel.

GuocoLand expects Damansara City to have an initial traffic of 10,000 people daily working within the integrated development and average another 6,000 visitors when it is fully operational by mid 2016. The future development of surrounding areas is expected to enhance the foot traffic within the area and further increase the demand for and the valuation of Damansara City’s units in both the residential and commercial towers.

Office Tower A’s 530,000 sq ft of usable area will be progressively handed over to various operating companies within the Hong Leong Group in coming months. “This announcement reinforces the position of Damansara City as the heart of a leading new business district in the Greater Kuala Lumpur and Damansara Height’s community. It underscores our unique combination of factors that sets us apart and has spurred both investor and corporate interest in the project to date.

"This includes our location within the exclusive enclave of Damansara Heights which is mere minutes away from Bangsar, the KL city centre, the KL Sentral transportation hub and other established townships; the highest levels of seamless integration between our corporate, residency and hospitality facilities; the onsite presence of a refined and curated lifestyle mall; and accessibility through multiple road systems and the soon to be completed MRT line,” said Tan Lee Koon, Managing Director of GuocoLand.

Damansara City, with a gross development value of RM2.5 billion, is an entry point project (EPP) under Malaysia’s Economic Transformation Programme. It has been identified as a key component and driver of one the fastest growing business districts in the Greater Kuala Lumpur area with strong and growing interest from buyers and tenants across South East Asia.

The office spaces at Damansara City are setting a new benchmark, not just in the Damansara Heights and greater Kuala Lumpur areas but from the regional property market. Strong regional demand for both its commercial and living spaces is being driven especially by Damansara City’s strategic location in Damansara Heights and office towers, which are MSC-status ready developments that comply with the Green Building Index (GBI) Certified rating; the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Gold rating; and CONQUAS Quality Assessment for its building construction works.

Hong Leong Group is the first of several prominent brands that are moving their corporate headquarters to Damansara City. DC Mall, the soon to be opened lifestyle and F&B heart of Damansara City is also seeing strong demand for its space. It has already secured in-principle agreements with some well known local and international brands for half its lettable space as well.