Competitive, creative, connected and in Central. That's how the owners of a new 25-storey office and retail tower in the heart of Hong Kong are pitching the latest addition to Central's real-estate landscape. According to Pamfleet Hong Kong, Morgan Stanley and Gateway Capital, the consortium that bought the premises for HK$2.3billion, the Nexxus Building will be a standout leasing option for corporate and retail customers when completed in the third quarter of this year. And the consortium has just revealed that the first tenant will be Fidelity Management & Research (FMR), the US entity of Fidelity Investments. FMR has leased nearly three floors of Nexxus as part of its expansion plans in Asia and will take possession later this year. Situated on Connaught Road near the old Central Market, the building will initially offer direct access to the Hang Seng Bank Building, Exchange Square, IFC and - once new walkways are complete - the Mid-Levels escalator. Pamfleet director Andrew Moore said the objective of a 'root and branch' restoration of the premises, which was built in 1962 and refurbished in 1992 by its previous owner, Hang Seng Bank, would turn 'an invisible building into a highly visible one'. 'It was almost an invisible building two years ago,' Mr Moore said. 'If you'd been asked to identify it a lot of people would not have been able to. One of our objectives was to take this 'invisible' building and make it very visible and connected - hence the name Nexxus - a point of connection. The building is all about connectivity and we put the extra 'x' into the name to emphasise that. 'We're redeveloping it from the skin out, it has been stripped to the shell and rebuilt out.' With three sides of the building curtain walled with a glass finish, Nexxus will certainly strike the eye - and it also aims to make an impact at the ground level. The old first-floor lobby has been taken down one level, which has meant driving lift shafts down to the street side. Already, three firm commitments have been made by tenants covering six of the 18 floors of office space available, with the target tenants coming from the legal services, accounting and banking sectors. The remainder of the floor space, which is leasing at HK$90 per sqft, will be set aside for retail. Mr Moore said: 'We realise there are retailers out there who cannot get space in The Landmark or IFC. We hope to fill that gap and offer top quality food and beverage outlets too. We are sure there will be plenty on offer on the retail front both for tenants and for people living and working in the area.' Gavin Morgan, head of markets for Jones Lang LaSalle Hong Kong, said Nexxus was also a symbol of the consolidation of Central as Hong Kong's main business district, despite what some see as a trend towards locations across Victoria Harbour, such as West Kowloon and Kowloon Bay. 'In 2007 there was 3.3million sqft of net take-up of space in Hong Kong overall. Six hundred thousand sqft of that was in Central. That's a pretty strong endorsement of Central as a business location. The addition of Nexxus is just consolidating that,' he said. 'The reason why some are going to West Kowloon is because they are looking for core and non-core locations. Some banks, for example, look at their premises in Central and see that they don't have room for significant expansion and need to look elsewhere. We think that [West Kowloon] will be an extension of the central business district when it reaches maturity.' Mr Morgan also urged market watchers to look at vacancies in Central, which stand at a record low. He believes this is a reflection of very strong demand for the location. The building's owners say most of the demand for office space in Central has come from the banking, finance and legal services sector. Grade A buildings are what tenants are after to give their businesses the type of profile that provides a platform for success. 'There is still a reasonably cost-conscious attitude towards leasing in Hong Kong, and Nexxus offers an ideal opportunity as our rents are very competitive at HK$90 per sqft, as opposed to the average of HK$110 per sqft across the Central district,' Mr Morgan added. Due to the curtain-wall design of Nexxus, tenants will be able to advertise their names on the outside of the glass frontage of three sides, Pamfleet's Mr Moore said. 'It's not going to be anything garish, like Wan Chai, but tasteful, and it will mean that the building will stand out - again, another point of connection.' Each floor of office space offers 10,000 sqft and will give the majority of tenants a largely uninterrupted view out of the glass-sided building. In total there is 180,000 sqft of office space for lease and five floors of retail. 'It will also offer much more light than many of the other older buildings in Central,' Mr Moore said. To create Nexxus, the old building was stripped back to its concrete shell and rebuilt. It will have seven high-speed passenger lifts serving two office zones 'It will look and feel like a brand-new building inside and out when it is finished,' Mr Morgan said.