PNB may turn MAS building into 5-star hotel

PERMODALAN Nasional Bhd (PNB) may convert Bangunan MAS into a business or five-star hotel and demolish the multi-level podium next to it to make way for a luxury serviced apartment tower worth a combined RM1 billion.

PNB bought the 35-storey building on Jalan Sultan Ismail from Malaysia Airlines (MAS) three years ago for RM130 million.

The building, the former MAS headquarters, is currently 60-70 per cent tenanted at an average RM3.50 per sq ft.

Its biggest tenants are Jabatan Kebudayaan dan Kesenian Negara and Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd, each occupying 10-12 floors.
It is learnt that PNB is finalising details of the building plans and working on getting the necessary approvals from the relevant authorities.

"It would be wise for PNB to build the apartments from scratch instead of the hotel. Once PNB has finalised the details of the plan, it would demolish the podium, maybe around the second half of 2010 to make way for the apartments," sources said.

The podium levels have a huge advantage of large floor plates boasting some 15,000 sq ft to 23,000 sq ft, enabling efficient space allocation for the apartments to generate higher returns.

On Bangunan MAS, PNB will be refurbishing the whole building while retaining the existing structures.

"The hotel will have world-class standards. It would be operated by a third party," a source said

PNB president and group chief executive Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman, when met at the launch of the Malaysia 1000 (Malaysia Top Corporate Directory) 4th Edition in Kuala Lumpur recently, told Business Times the redevelopment of Bangunan MAS would take place "soon".

He declined, however, to give details of the plan but said it would feature high-end products.

Meanwhile, the tenants of Bangunan MAS have yet to get any letter from PNB to vacate the building.

"If they want us to vacate, they should give us six months notice so we have time to find a new place," said the official of one company, who declined to be named.

By Business Times (by Sharen Kaur)