Manhattan chosen as new global headquarters for Ageas
The real estate company Icon Real Estate, owner of the building in the heart of the capital of Europe, has signed a long-term lease agreement with Ageas
Brussels, November 23, 2021 - Located in the heart of the new Central Business District (CBD) in Brussels, Manhattan will soon welcome a prestigious new tenant: Ageas. Occupying the Winter Garden floors of the building, the company's headquarters will overlook the capital, while offering a sustainable and future-proof work environment for its employees. Icon Real Estate, the pan-European real estate company that owns Manhattan, has signed an important lease for more than 5,000 sqm.
Manhattan is a full-service office complex located in the new heart of Brussels’ CBD (Rogier) designed and built with people in mind. It offers four fitness facilities, restaurants, a tenants-only terrace, a meeting center, an auditorium, co-working space, a supermarket, generous cycle facilities (including showers and lockers), ample car parking spaces, and metro access within the building. It has recently been completely renovated and designed with a forward-thinking approach that puts sustainability, well-being and the safety of its occupants first. The office building is the first in Europe to have received the “AirScore Platinum” certification, the highest possible level of accreditation for Indoor Air Quality, essential in the post-Covid era.
Ageas, the Belgian insurance Group which is also present in Belgium via AG Insurance and AG Real Estate, will move its headquarters to Manhattan and lease more than 5,000 sqm in the Winter Garden (14th to 17th floors). A 12-year lease was signed between Ageas and Icon Real Estate. Amongst others, the Euronext listed company will join leading international law firms such as Baker McKenzie, international corporations such as Mazars and Belgium’s leading business school, Vlerick Business School which are already present in the building.
"We realised that our company needed to move toward new ways of working given recent events and the changes in how office spaces are used. We needed a new global headquarters, complete with new technical specifications, to provide a space to connect with each other that also matches our company's values and identity. Manhattan's beautiful, high-quality spaces in the heart of Brussels, coupled with its focus on environmentally friendly construction techniques, air quality and its proximity to public transport made us feel right away that this was the ideal place for the future of our organisation." says Hans De Cuyper, CEO of Ageas.
In a market lacking in Grade A office space, this new agreement demonstrates the significant interest in the high-quality office accommodation offered by Icon Real Estate. Manhattan is a world leading example of sustainability and wellness for a number of reasons. By keeping the original building rather than demolishing and starting again, Icon Real Estate saved more than 5,000 tonnes of embodied carbon during construction. The iconic tower, is also BREEAM Excellent, EPB and AirScore D&O Platinum rated. It is one of the leading high-quality multi-service office complexes in Belgium.
Erik Moresco, founder of Victory Group, which owns Icon Real Estate, says, "World leading companies and their employees increasingly appreciate the importance of a stimulating environment. In the post-Covid era, with companies moving towards more flexible, hybrid working models, a modern and exciting working and meeting place is critical. This desire of leading companies like Ageas to move to a location that better meets these current needs is best demonstrated by their choice to move their headquarters to Manhattan, a contemporary space with a unique array of services. We’re delighted to welcome them."
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Chloé Saucin
About Icon Real Estate
Icon Real Estate is a leading real estate company in the European market. Innovative and tenant-focused, the company has delivered a collection of more than 300,000 sqm of prime office real estate. Icon prime and thriving ecosystems in close cooperation with its development partners and local government bodies. It enhances the area with high-quality environments, creating world-class, harmonious spaces that are better for people, local communities and the wider environment.
Icon is an innovator that creates unique, forward-looking building ecosystems with high added-value, setting new standards and defining new possibilities in sustainable property transformation. Multi-functional spaces, packed with a breadth of world-class amenities that provide a range of unique combinations of shared facilities for employees, guests and visitors. Structured, yet fully flexible leasing gives the freedom to shrink or grow as the needs of the market and customers change.
The Icon team and its partners have built a reputation for creating exciting spaces that work beautifully, places that add energy and life, with the conscientious approach that the most sustainable building is the one you didn’t build. Intelligent design and cutting-edge technology used for energy efficiency and wellbeing ensure the buildings go way beyond all expectations.
About the Manhattan Brussels building
Manhattan, located in the heart of the Brussels city centre (Rogier), has set a new standard for office buildings in Brussels. The forward-thinking building has been designed with people in mind. It delivers an outstanding work environment in the heart of the new CBD, with a unique ecosystem of amenities and services. The building has four food and beverage offerings, four separate fitness facilities, a meeting center and an auditorium to cover all tenant requirements. Accessibility is unparalleled with metro access within the building, bike parking, a car park with e-parking facilities and a prominent location on the inner ring road. Sustainability is a crucial aspect of the newly renovated Manhattan with the building rated BREEAM Excellent, EPB and AirScore D&O Platinum.
About Ageas
Ageas is a listed international insurance Group with a heritage spanning almost 200 years. It offers Retail and Business customers Life and Non-Life insurance products designed to suit their specific needs, today and tomorrow.
As one of Europe's larger insurance companies, Ageas concentrates its activities in Europe and Asia, which together make up the major part of the global insurance market. It operates successful insurance businesses in Belgium, the UK, France, Portugal, Turkey, China, Malaysia, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, and the Philippines through a combination of wholly owned subsidiaries and long term partnerships with strong financial institutions and key distributors.
Ageas ranks among the market leaders in the countries in which it operates. It represents a staff force of about 45,000 people and reported annual inflows close to EUR 36 billion in 2020 (all figures at 100%).