AECOM Sets Local Hong Kong Record with New Office Lease

AECOM has set a record in Hong Kong with the lease for its new Asia headquarters.

The global infrastructure consulting firm signed a lease for 120,000 square feet for its upgraded Asia headquarters at New World Development’s Class A office complex at 83 King Lam Street in Cheung Sha Wan, the South China Morning Post reported. That size makes the space grab the largest post-pandemic office deal in the Cheung Sha Wan district.

Terms of the lease, including length and rent, were not disclosed. AECOM’s global headquarters is in Dallas, Texas.

The 83 King Lam Street development consists of two 23-story towers totaling more than 1.1 million square feet. The property is about 70 percent occupied, with more than half of the tenants being multinational corporations from the U.S., Europe and Japan, including Ralph Lauren, British beauty retailer Lush, Japanese logistics firm Yusen, luggage manufacturers Lojel and Delsey and Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. Other tenants in the architecture, engineering, tech, media and co-working spheres have also planted flags at the complex, highlighting Cheung Sha Wan’s attractiveness for firms priced out of the city’s central business districts.

Many global firms have been taking advantage of falling Hong Kong office rents. With average monthly office rents in its financial district falling nearly 50 percent since 2019, U.S.-based firms like Point72, General Atlantic and Akin Gump have moved into newer and more centrally located offices in the Asian financial center.

The largest office lease of the year in the city, however, went to Hong Kong-based insurer FWD. The company signed a decade-long deal for 330,000 square feet in Swire Properties’ Taikoo Place in August.

The vacancy rate for prime office buildings in Hong Kong hit a record high of 17.4 percent at the end of last year. In the second quarter of this year, the amount of new leasing space available for rent reached its highest point since 2019.

Stateside, AECOM has been active in post-wildfire rebuilding efforts in Los Angeles, home to its current Americas headquarters and its former corporate headquarters before decamping to Dallas.

In the spring, the City of Los Angeles announced a partnership with AECOM to help with long-term fire recovery efforts in the Pacific Palisades. That work was proposed to include creating a master plan for rebuilding, infrastructure that takes into account residential and commercial construction, logistics for the mammoth building effort and traffic mitigation efforts.

“AECOM’s expertise in long-term infrastructure planning and design will only further expedite our work to get families home,” Mayor Karen Bass said at the time.

— Chris Malone Méndez