Even a year and eight months after its opening, the tower’s vacancy rate has remained high, primarily due to rents that some see as prohibitively expensive. (Image: Lotte Corporation)
SEOUL, Nov. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — A significant portion of the empty office space currently available at Lotte World Tower will soon be taken up by the company’s subsidiaries.
By doing so, Seoul’s newest landmark building is expected to lower its vacancy levels from the current 60 percent to 30 percent.
According to an announcement by Lotte Property and Development (P&D) Co. today, subsidiaries Lotte e-commerce and Lotte Cultureworks Co. will be moving into Lotte World Tower’s Prime Office in December.
The two companies are both owned by Lotte Shopping Co., a major subsidiary of the Lotte Group that invested in the construction of Lotte World Tower.
Lotte Shopping was responsible for investing, in stocks, 15 percent of the 4.2 trillion won of capital that went into the construction of Lotte World Tower.
The company jointly owns the tower with Lotte P&D (75 percent) and Lotte Hotel & Resorts (10 percent).
Although Lotte hopes to gain a synergy effect of sorts by keeping many of its subsidiaries in the same physical location, critics say that the move is a strategic one that is aimed at lowering the vacancy ratio of the building.
Even a year and eight months after its opening, the tower’s vacancy rate has remained high, primarily due to rents that some see as prohibitively expensive.
H. S. Seo (hsseo@koreabizwire.com)
