With the planned relocation of the capital, efforts are under way to prepare the Monas area as a city center. “The SOEs’ assets, which include the ministry building, newly build and inaugurated Menara Danareksa and the BSI Tower now under construction, should also be developed and managed professionally to increase their value,” she said.

“Menara Danareksa will be connected to BSI Tower like ‘Twin Towers’ in the near future,” she added. 

She said that the luxury Menara Danareksa building had private and dedicated access to 22 floors, each fitted with floor-to-ceiling windows and sophisticated technology, which will become an attractive choice for offices, meeting events and weddings.

According to her, PP built, developed and manage Menara Danareksa to fulfill the market demand for office space and meetings with premium services in typical five-star hotel style in Medan Merdeka.

She revealed that construction of Menara Danareksa by PP, which started in 2019, was completed in the second quarter of 2022, within 36 months as originally planned. The on-time completion came about largely because of full support from PP as the owner of Menara Danareksa.

The arrival of Menara Danareksa is deemed timely because the fear that the COVID-19 pandemic would affect the office building sector has dissipated, especially since the change in the status of the COVID-19 from pandemic to endemic in 2022. “Since then, the office building sector has started to move on, with the demand for space for offices, meetings, weddings continuing to rise, which restores Menara Danareksa’s self-confidence,” Rika said.

“This has been proven by the increasing demand for office and meeting spaces at Menara Danareksa from various institutions, including government, SOEs, embassies and multinational companies,” she said. 

“The increasing demand is also seen in the ballroom rental, to meet the need for traditional, national and international weddings,” she added.

Of the total 22 floors, 17 are offices. Ground and upper ground are designed for retail space. Currently, over 30 companies, office and retail, occupy the building.

Menara Danareksa uses state-of-the art technology, which supports a five-star hotel service, starting from the entrance gate lift. It provides easy yet safe and personalized access. Only tenants and guests can access the floors.

Rika pointed out that hospitality was in every employee’s DNA, ensuring that guests or tenants who visit the building, have offices, or utilize facilities in Menara Danareksa will feel like they are enjoying the services of a five-star hotel. 

“This is in line with the building’s beautiful interior design, starting from guests setting foot in the lobby to five-star hotel services that provide a memorable experience,” she added.

According to Rika, Menara Danaresa aims to provide space for modern offices and meetings. “Menara Danareksa’s architecture has a deep philosophical meaning, symbolizing efforts to achieve noble virtue for people inside, supported by the eco-friendly building or green building design concept,” she said.

She explained that Menara Danareksa held a Green Gold Certificate and operated by complying with strict green principles and provided luxury five-star hospitality services whereby tenants’ comfort, safety and health are its top priority.

The building’s exterior is painted white, which keeps the building cool as white surfaces are good reflectors of heat, reducing the cooling cost of the building through efficient use of air conditioning (AC).  

All of the light bulbs in the building are light emitting diodes (LEDs), which use up to 90 percent less energy and last longer than traditional incandescent bulbs. “Public spaces are equipped with automatic lights that come on only when there are persons or when needed. When not in use, the lights will go out automatically,” Rika said.

Menara Danareksa’s senior marketing communication manager Ivana Novida added that the building also adopted sustainable water management in which waste water was recycled. “The recycled water is used for watering plants,” she said. 

All of the toilets, which are always kept clean, utilize water-efficient appliances, such as self-closing or spray taps; or low-flush toilets. “So, we avoid waste in terms of consuming electricity and water,” said Ivana.

With health being one of the elements of a green building, smoking inside the building is strictly prohibited. “Smoking is only allowed in the al fresco area, outside the building,” Rika said.

Rika pointed out that hospitality at Menara Danareksa not only meant ensuring five-star hotel services, but also the look and feel of its lobby, spaces and a range of facilities tailored to the needs of tenants.

“I want to evolve Menara Danareksa into a one-stop-shop building. The tenants can find anything they want here because all is within their reach. Not all of them have enough time to have lunch and that’s why we equip this building with retail outlets,” she said.

Talks with a Singaporean healthcare provider are under way to explore the possibility of running a clinic in Menara Danareksa.  “A plan is also under way to run a beauty clinic and private gym or yoga classes,” she said.

So, despite the luxurious five-star hotel services, Menara Danareksa’s policy favors tenants because adopting the green hospitality concept can save costs.

Operating an office building with a green hospitality concept certainly has many challenges but Rika and her team can cope with them well thanks largely to their years of experience in five-star hotels. 

Being entrusted to develop the Menara Danareksa office building, Rika set up her own team as part of the business strategy to operate and grow the rental office and retail building.

She said that 80 percent of the people recruited in the team had an average of more than 7 years’ working experience in five-star hotels. “That way, they are easily and readily in tune when working together,” said Rika, who has 17 years’ experience in five-star hotels.

According to her, in the early phase, they had to work in full speed, as they started to operate the building from zero when the ground floor had by no means been touched up.

 “We started with process the interior design, including decorative items and furniture and the main important thing is to seek potential tenants to ensure we manage to fulfill the building occupancy.” said Rika, recollecting the early phase of operating the building.

“Alhamdullilah [thanks be to God], PP provided support by allowing me to build my own team. Hospitality has been imprinted on the team and as of now, everything runs well even though, at times, I send work-related ideas to them through a WhatsApp group before dawn,” she said.

“I start the day at the office by providing a morning briefing to the teams from every department. We discuss and find a solution to any problem that may hamper progress,” she said.

Ivana, who has 14 years experience in five-star hotels, added that problem solving was one of the strengths that most employees of a five-star hotel possess. “We bring the strength to the office building and so any team member should always get ready to solve any problem that tenants face to ensure that we are reliable,” she said. 

“Business [rental office and retail] is dynamic in nature, which calls for flexibility and a prompt response,” Ivana added.

Providing premium and five-star hotel services also means applying high standards or being highly selective when it comes to clients eager to utilize the building’s facilities and services, as well as tenants wishing to rent space as a workplace or an F&B outlet. 

“Therefore, tight curation is of paramount importance, such as when an F&B business wants to open an outlet in the building,” Rika. 

“The reason is because we don’t want to affect the business of the existing F&B outlets by the presence of the new ones,” she argued. 

Similar tight curation also applies to weddings and meetings, with priority given only to event organizers that meet the premium standards. “When it comes to catering, for example, only those that have passed the curation can partner up with Menara Danareksa. We work in a professional manner. Although pitching participants may come from our team, all food should go through a food-testing session,” she said. “This way, we can maintain our promise to serve them with premium and five-star hotel services.”

This also explains why despite the rising demand for wedding space, Menara Danareksa limits itself to one wedding event a day at the maximum, instead of twice a day or back-to-back. “Weddings are an important moment and once-in-a lifetime experiences and so we have to cherish this,” she said.

In a relatively short journey, Menara Danareksa has not only established its presence as an ideal wedding and meeting venue, but also as a sought-after culinary destination, especially thanks to its wide selection of food and cuisine. 

At Menara Danareksa, a food court is available with the capacity of 100 seats in the non-smoking area and 24 seats in a smoking area.

Apart from Liberica, Bakmi Naga and Luberger, there will be an Aroem Manis restaurant, which provides Indonesian food. The resto is set to open in end-June.  

In the culinary area, Menara Danareksa is set to team up with micro-small-and medium enterprises (MSMEs) engaged in the culinary business. “Although Menara Danareksa is a luxury building, we also support our MSMEs. We also have to assist them in growing,” Rika said.

In the food court, there will be warteg (food stalls that specifically serve Javanese food). There will be Manado food, gado-gado (mixed vegetable salad with rice and peanut sauce), soto mie (noodle soup) and nasi kucing (a small rice portion wrapped in banana leaves). “So, there will be more options for food, depending on customers’ preferences and the state of their pocket,” she said, adding, “We will also open a snack corner to cater to those in need of snacks.”

No wonder that regular customers of F&B outlets at Menara Danareksa also include employees from outside the building or the neighboring offices.

“Employees from other nearby offices, such as Telkom, Pertamina, HIPMI and other SOE s come here because we offer a complete range of food served in an elegant and luxurious venue,” Rika said, referring to walk-in guests.

Ivana added that 80 percent of the spaces are occupied, with most of the tenants being ministries and SOEs. “We are also open to private agencies, entities or companies,” she said, citing Kyodo News, Japan’s news agency, as one example.

“As regards banqueting, apart from the availability of spaces, our banquet sales also provide complete and tailor-made meeting packages. To meet wedding needs, we provide a wedding advisor to make sure that this special day is a memorable once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Rika said.

Setting foot in the grand and elegant lobby of Menara Danareksa, visitors are greeted by an amiable lobby ambassador like in a five-star hotel. 

The spacious lobby area, with a combined brown and cream-toned floor emulating class and elegance while giving off a comfortable and cozy feel. The sight of a grand piano on the right and the soft sound of music builds a fresh, relaxing and happy mood.  

The smiling lobby ambassador is always ready to answer questions as she is equipped with information about the building, concierge services in the surrounding Menara Danareksa area, knowledge about tourist attractions, recommended restaurants and coffee shops and even nearby hospitals.

To access the building an ID card is presented by the receptionist on registration. “The ID card will serve as a limited-time access card. This is the first-ever technology to be used in such an office building in Jakarta,” said Ivana, who accompanied a tour of the building. 

Exploring further there are retail outlets such as Bank Mandiri, Bank BSI, an ATM center, Family Mart, Lawson, Liberica, Bakmi Naga, Luberger, Waroeng Ngupi-Ngupi Express and other sellers of popular food and beverages.

On the first floor is the Aryanusa Ballroom, one of the sophisticated facilities available at Menara Danareksa.  The ballroom with the magnificent carpet-covered floor has a capacity of 1,000 people, and seven meeting rooms with capacities ranging from 15 to 150 people. 

The spacious, exclusive and luxurious Aryanusa Ballroom is the right venue for meetings, weddings and intimate concerts. “The pillarless ballroom’s ceiling is about 9 meters from the floor, making it more spacious and luxurious,” Ivana said.

The Aryanusa Ballroom was first exposed to the public when it held a concert themed “Menara Danareksa marks a new beginning” with singer Judika on Feb. 17. Since then, the ballroom and other meeting spaces have become increasingly popular, with demand for weddings and meetings heating up. “Six weddings are on the list in July,” she said.

On the second floor are two luxury VIP rooms, three meeting rooms with medium capacity and four small-capacity meeting rooms located on the first floor.

Menara Danareksa is also used as a venue for academic activities. 

As Rika explained Padjadjaran University (Unpad) has opened its representative office and campus in Jakarta on the second floor of the building. 

The university offers hybrid project-based masters programs in the area of economics, management, tourism, law and science.  Eighty percent of the learning is conducted online and 20 percent onsite. The students are mostly employees of SOE s who pursue the program. “That’s why F&B outlets here are open on Saturdays because students come to the campus here to attend classes on that day,” Rika said.

As an eco-friendly office building, Menara Danareksa also excels in its parking lot. With two parking lifts, the parking lot has the capacity of 400 cars, 100 motorbikes and 100 bicycles.

It comes as no surprise, therefore, to learn that tenants have expressed their delight at renting office space at Menara Danareksa. 

Denny Setiawan, director of resources management at the Directorate General of SDPPI at the Communications and Information Ministry (KEMKOMINFO), said that an office building most suitable for today’s office activities was one equipped with modern and complete facilities and was managed and maintained well, supported by a fast, stable and earthquake-resistant telecommunication connection network and applying smart office and green building principles.

Asked what had prompted him to rent space at Menara Danareksa, he said there was an urgent need for office space and out of several options available, Menara Danareksa’s could accommodate the needs of Directorate General of SDPPI. 

Denny revealed the things he liked most about Menara Danareksa. “The strategic location and the availability of many alternative modes of transportation allow the employees and users of services provided by Ditjen SDPPI to reach Menara Danareksa easily,” he said.

“We also like the professionalism when it comes to operating Menara Danareksa and providing its best service,” he added.

“The relatively young building has a modern interior, making it highly representative as the Ditjen SDPPI office, particularly as a venue for public services that Ditjen SDPPI provides,” he said.

Rika pointed out that Menara Danareksa had been built with a big idea, which is to become part of the Monas complex, set to be renovated to become a city park like in New York, London or in other big cities around the world. 

Menara Danareksa will stand side by side with an identical building, the BSI Tower, which will in the future become twin towers. “The BSI Tower is under construction. The bridge connecting the two building will be on the second floor,” Rika said.

The construction of the twin towers is expected to be completed in September 2024.

Rika invited everyone to come to Menara Danareksa and witness for themselves how Menara Danareksa offers a one-stop-commercial tower, which not only provides rental office services, but also a range of activities such as coffee shops, restaurants and convenience stores and events like meetings, weddings, exhibitions and small concerts.