Real-estate companies construct increasing numbers of
commercial buildings to meet growing demand for office space in the capital.
The high cost of office space makes business expensive.Commercial buildings are
more in demand than residential structures, but still in short supply since the
government permits the building of commercial structures only in officially-declared
commercial locations.
"Due to huge demand for office buildings, all big
real-estate companies have multiple projects on commercial buildings to meet
demand," said Tanvirul Haque Probal, president of Real Estate and Housing
Association of Bangladesh (REHAB). Bay Developments Ltd, Concord Group, and
Orion Group are on the list of big real estate companies, now concentrating on
building commercial buildings.
Although commercial buildings are being constructed in huge numbers in other locations,
rents and prices of such buildings are still high in prime-locations such as
Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara due to non-availability of office space, industry
insiders said.
"The floor space of our 15-storey commercial building is around six-lakh square
feet and we hope to make it ready for use by January next year," said
Mostafizur Rahman, marketing manager of Abdul Monem Limited, a real estate
company. "Our original plan was to build a 20-storey building with a
helipad on the roof. But we Could not implement our original plan due to the
restriction of Civil Aviation Authority," he added.
Mominul Haque, brand executive of Shanta Properties Limited, said the company
is constructing a commercial building in Gulshan, which will have modern
car-parking facility, central security system and high-speed internet.
Concord has two commercial buildings ready for
sale: one located in Dhaka and the other in
Chittagong, officials of the company said.
When the selling price of per square feet of residential space
is around Tk 10,000 in Gulshan and Baridhara areas, the prices of per square
feet of commercial space are no less than Tk 25,000 in the same areas, said
Khalilur Rahman, deputy general manager of
Concord.
Rahman said rents of each square feet of commercial space vary from Tk 25-Tk 30
to as high as Tk 200-Tk 250 in the capital. "Booking money for such office
space is also very high," he added. Mahbubul Majid, managing director of Century 21 Realty, a
real estate agent, said: "The number of government-declared commercial
areas is limited."
People now tend to set up commercial offices in Gulshan, Baridhara and Banani
instead of Motijheel, the commercial district in
Dhaka.
