Onetime office building adopts the mall trend

Onetime office building adopts the mall trend

Narada Krisnaputra, Contributor, Jakarta

Times change, and so do tastes in retail therapy. One of South
Jakarta's most venerable office buildings has undergone a major
revamping to offer a great escape for local residents and office
workers.

It's Monday, and your boss has not shown up at the office. The
naughtiest thing to come to a badass subordinate's mind might be
calling some buddies to set up a lazy lunch in a favorite
restaurant, only later to return to their cubicles, stuffed and
socially recharged.

But bosses in the Kuningan business area, South Jakarta,
beware. The extended lunch will soon be passe -- replaced by pool
playing or watching the latest flick from Hollywood.

The hottest high-noon escapade among employees in that area is
made possible by the opening of a cineplex from the 21 chain at
the Setiabudi Building 1, known simply as Setiabudi One.

Even better, as of August, the management has decided to turn
the four-story office building into a mini entertainment center.

"The office space supply around Kuningan area is saturated,
it's time to provide employees with relaxation and leisure
facilities, something that the area lacks," said Ryan Adrian,
general manager of the marketing division for PT Jakarta
Setiabudi International Tbk. which manages Setiabudi Buildings 1,
2 and 3.

His comment about the difficulty of finding an entertainment
center in the city may be a bit hard to take, but one must admit
that installing a cineplex -- soon to be followed by a gym, pool
and a club -- in a 30-year-old office building was one smart
business move.

Setiabudi One was among the first office buildings established
along Jl. HR. Rasuna Said, Kuningan. "It was so hip that the
building was used for location shooting of many local movies in
the '70s," Adrian said.

As time passed, the building's famous red brick walls
continued to attract many tenants, including several restaurants
and coffee shops on the ground floor of the building, due to its
prime location.

But more modern, enticing buildings also came on the market in
recent years.

Segmentation was at the top of the management's mind when
deciding to convert the entire office building into an amusement
center, with specialized products or menus for employees of local
office buildings.

For junk-food lovers, the decision hurt, but judging from a
visit on one Tuesday afternoon, it seems to be working at this
early stage. At lunch hour, most eateries in the building are
patronized by employees looking for a place to get a meal and
unwind before the clock strikes the dreaded 1 p.m.

The choices are plenty, ranging from a teppanyaki station,
Thai cuisine, Chinese food, a European style eatery to decent
Indonesian home cooking and a hot dog chain, all serving huge but
somewhat pricey dishes.

"I come here for lunch only after I get my paycheck at the end
of the month, otherwise the food prices are just too expensive,"
said Rika, a teller who works at a nearby office building.

By late afternoon, it's obvious that the new cineplex -- with
no teenagers in sight -- has attracted people from outside
Kuningan area to catch the latest flick.

Roaming through the establishments in the newly renovated
building is even nicer after office hours. The absence of
clothing shops and kiddie-related stores -- aka junk-food
restaurants and playground -- make Setiabudi One scream-free and
a more intimate setting.

The CD store, salad and ice-cream parlor, drugstore or even a
modern-minimalist barbershop that guarantees to finish a trim
within 10 minutes make good neighbors.

And thanks to the functional architectural designs, each floor
of the building now has long but not-so-wide aisles that serve as
corridors to separate tenants.

They are categorized accordingly: The ground floor is for
informal-style restaurants; friendly and casual eateries as well
as a drugstore and CD store are on the first floor, and the rest
is the domain of the movie theater, pool hall, gym and club.

Although located in a business area, Ryan denied the
prediction the new entertainment center would only be alive on
workdays.

"For some people, dining out is now a form relaxation. What
could be a better idea than coming to an exclusive restaurant
with your spouse, having an intimate dinner and lounging the
night away in a secluded establishment where parking is no
hassle?"

He added that as long as the quality of tenants was good, even
people from residential areas far from Kuningan would not mind
making the trip.

The Sept. 9 Australian Embassy bombing, only 200 meters away,
caused what he termed a "hiccup" in the plans for the one-month-
old entertainment center.

"Some windows of tenants were broken, and that's all. We
closed for two days but after that, it's business as usual.
What's over is over and people started coming here again."

Next December will be the place's grand launching, marked by
the opening of a club on the top floor, giving more options for
local employees to unwind and escape from the mounting work back
at the office.

"And we are now building a more spacious parking lot, coming
up is a new apartment compound and when business gets better,
there'll be a new hotel at the exact location of Setiabudi
Building 2."

If only they knew -- bigger is often not beautiful.