International companies on the island are crossing the harbour to take up cheaper spaces in brand new buildings
Japanese-based Ricoh Corp and Parsons Brinkeroff of New York will relocate their offices from decentralised districts on Hong Kong Island to One Kowloon, a newly completed building in Kowloon East.
Lured by cheaper rents and brand new office space, the two will lease a total area of 180,000 square feet at One Kowloon, developed by Glorious Sun Enterprises, sources said.
The office spaces they will lease are similar in size to their existing premises.
The rent, which they were negotiating, was expected to be close to HK$20 per square foot but was still 14 to 40 per cent lower than what they were paying at their existing offices, agents said.
Ricoh Hong Kong, the local arm of Ricoh Corp, would leave Tai Yau Building in Wan Chai and move to an 80,000 sqft office in One Kowloon, while Parsons Brinkeroff, an international planning and engineering company, was relocating from AIA in North Point to take up 100,000 sqft of office at One Kowloon, sources said.