Phnom Penh Tower construction to be completed by end of April

[Property Report]

Phnom Penh Tower

The construction of the 22-storey, US$60 million Phnom Penh Tower is scheduled to be finished by the end of April, The Phnom Penh Post has reported.

“We already completed 95 percent [of the tower],” said Hong Youvoin, Marketing Manager of the South Korean company behind the tower, Hyundai Amco Co. “We’re preparing the grand opening ceremony for the end of this month or beginning next month.”

The office skyscraper on Monivong Boulevard is one of many new towers recently completed or under construction in Cambodia’s capital including OCIC Tower and Gold Tower 41.

Hong Youvoin said that since the beginning of 2011, demand for new office space has jumped along with new investments from Vietnam, France, and South Korea.

“We have already rented 40 percent [of the building to] international firms in banking, auditing consulting, airlines, embassies and especially real estate companies,” he said. Rents in the tower will average US$19 per square metre he said, adding that he hopes the tower’s occupancy rate will reach between 50 percent to 60 percent by 2012.

Sung Bonna, President and CEO of Bonna Realty Group and President of the National Valuers’ Association of Cambodia, said he believed the tower was situated in the right location to attract clients.

“In this year, we have noted that occupancy rates increased because a lot of investors came to the Kingdom,” he said.

He claimed that Cambodia’s property market in the first quarter of this year has been better than the same period last year, adding that there have been double the transactions since January 1. 

Occupancy is at about 75 percent at the 14 Grade B buildings in the capital, according to the National Valuers’ Association. Sung Bonna said the price of rental office space in Grade A offices is between US$20 and US$30 per square metre, while Grade B has fetched between US$10 and US$20 per square metre.

There are nearly 40,000 square metres of Grade A office space in Phnom Penh, Sung Bonna said, with another 30,000 square metres expected to come on line in the next three months. Now there are 10,000 square metres of Grade B office space in the city.

 Sung Bonna also said that when Cambodia’s stock exchange opens this summer it will boost demand for office space and, as a result, lift prices. 

“Many investors will come to our country to invest here,” he said.