KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2 — Malaysia’s tallest skyscraper Exchange 106 has received its Certificate of Completion and Compliance (CCC), marking yet another milestone for the tower that is part of the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) financial district.
The financial district itself was born from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) during the Najib administration.
Standing at 492 metres above sea level, Exchange 106 which is located in the heart of the capital city has overtaken the country’s previous record-holder Petronas Twin Towers in terms of height.
This means that the Exchange 106 located within TRX Kuala Lumpur’s Golden Triangle is ready to open its doors to provide office space for tenants, including multinational companies.
Joanne Ang, head of leasing for Exchange 106’s owner and developer Mulia Property Development Sdn Bhd, believes that companies will be keen on taking up office space in the tower — which is one of the world’s top 10 tallest office buildings.
“Given the strategic value propositions, we expect many more multinational companies (MNCs) and local conglomerates to seize the opportunity to be part of KL’s new international postcode and increase their competitiveness by setting up their operations in Exchange 106 and TRX,” she said in a statement.
Exchange 106 expects its first tenants to move in by December as two zones are in the final stages of documentation and design, and the bulk to start shifting in by March and April next year.
Patrick Honan, general manager of Property Management of Mulia Property Development Sdn Bhd, expects the state-of-the-art Exchange 106 to match other similar landmarks globally.
“The Exchange 106 is expected to be second to none and is bench-marked against international properties such as The Shard, buildings in Canary Wharf, both in London; New York’s One World Trade Centre and Shanghai IFC,” he said in the same statement.
Honan also said the building will be managed by Mulia’s own staff, pointing out the Mulia Group’s practice of “five-star hospitality” for its award-winning five-star resorts.
“Exchange 106 will continue the Mulia legacy of impeccable service. It will be providing hundreds of sustaining jobs, through building cleaners, maintenance people and auxiliary police officers, all of whom will be direct hires and not outsourced,” he said.
Building features
Inspired by Art Deco and Islamic architecture principles, the Exchange 106’s 15-metre-tall main lobby boasts luxurious finishings of book-matched marble cladding and English Burl wood veneer ceilings.
The building will also offer the largest column-free space in Malaysia, including office space of 22,000 to 34,000 square feet without columns, which will allow for flexible layouts and open plan interior designs by tenants.
The Exchange 106 was given an iconic touch with a crown of triangulated and folded super clear glass at the top of the tower to provide dramatic reflections in daytime and a distinctive glow at night, while LED lights throughout the building change colours to reflect the Malaysian currency’s colours.
The building will be well-connected, with its ground floor to be a pedestrian interchange between its TRX neighbours such as HSBC’s and Affin Bank’s office buildings, the TRX MRT station and new shopping centre Exchange Mall.
TRX, envisioned to be an integrated financial business, retail and residential development, has direct road links to the three major highways of Jalan Tun Razak, Maju Expressway and the SMART Tunnel, while the TRX MRT station will be an interchange station for the two MRT lines of Sungai Buloh-Kajang line and the upcoming Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya line.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng in February said the entire TRX project — slated for completion by 2024 — has been “detoxed” of its corrupt elements after being tied to the 1MDB financial scandal and has been successfully transformed to be attractive to investors.
The Finance Ministry last June said it will inject an additional RM2.8 billion in several tranches into the TRX project until its completion by 2024, with an eye to recoup costs and generate investor confidence with a completed project instead of having an eyesore with an abandoned mega project.
