Standard Chartered Bank says it will spend as much as $275 million fitting out its new 500,000-square-foot headquarters, Standard Chartered Tower, in Kwun Tong.
'I think the average bank back-office fit-out costs between $350 and $550 per sq ft,' its head of property services for Hong Kong and China, Steve Riley, said. 'We are in that ball park.' The bank bought 15 tower floors in Sun Hung Kai Property's Millennium City in Kwun Tong for $1.03 billion two years ago. It subsequently leased a further 12 floors at $13.50 per sq ft.
It expects to begin moving about 3,200 employees into the building when fitting out is completed in a few months.
While Kwun Tong might seem remote, the situation would change in a few years, Mr Riley said.
'Kwun Tong will become a focus of commercial activity. That is part of the reason why we bought space in Millennium City,' he said. The bank had a gentleman's agreement that it could lease the remaining space in the building later.
Its consumer banking, treasury, corporate and institutional banking and support functions would move to Kwun Tong. Dealing rooms and part of its corporate and institutional banking would stay in Central.
