BGC or Makati for a 300-Workstation Head Office

For a 300-workstation head office in Metro Manila, the choice between BGC (Bonifacio Global City, Taguig) and Makati CBD comes down to three things: whether you need a PEZA-accredited building, how much you can negotiate on price and terms, and where your people live. The market data points in two directions. Makati is winning more deals on cost today, while BGC is where most active requirements want to be. This page sets out what the sources say, what they do not say, and how to decide.

A workstation is one seat with a desk, chair and computer setup. PEZA is the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, which registers many IT-BPM firms and requires them to operate in accredited buildings.

How much space 300 seats need

Floor area is seats multiplied by square meters per seat. A head office usually needs more space per seat than a production floor, because of meeting rooms and executive areas. We use 5 to 7 sqm per seat as a planning assumption, not a sourced standard:

Operator sites on the FlySpaces Cebu list run at 3.0 to 3.6 sqm per seat, which would give 900 to 1,080 sqm for 300 seats (300 x 3.0 and 300 x 3.6). Test your density with a space planner before you compare buildings.

What the market data says

Reading these together: Makati took 66% of deals in the first five months of 2026, and LPC attributes that to softer rents and flexible lease terms. Managed office operators, government agencies and corporate headquarters were among the key drivers. BGC accounts for 82% of live demand, which means more occupiers are competing for space there. Average rents are not what you will be quoted for a specific floor, so ask each landlord for a current offer.

On supply, LPC's H1 2026 data, as reported by Outsource Accelerator, found that BGC has only five buildings offering 5,000 sqm or more of contiguous space, and that no new office supply is scheduled in Makati CBD until after 2028. A 300-seat head office needs well under 5,000 sqm, so the large-block shortage does not limit you. Availability on specific floors does, so ask early.

PEZA

If your head office is an IT-BPM or shared-services operation registered or registering with PEZA, the building must be PEZA-accredited. LPC describes BGC as the preferred address for large PEZA-accredited requirements. Makati also has PEZA-accredited buildings (the PEZA entry on Wikipedia lists several), so check the building and floor, not the district. If your head office does not need PEZA, this criterion drops out and cost and commute decide.

Taxes and costs we cannot compare yet

Local business tax is set by each city, and the rate that applies depends on how your business is classified. Our draft figures for Taguig and Makati had no source, so we do not publish them here. Ask your tax adviser to compute both cities' local business tax and real property tax exposure on your own revenue, and add the result to the rent comparison. We also have no dated, sourced figures for managed suite seat rates in either district, so request written quotes from operators.

People and commute

Map where your 300 staff live before you choose. Then check, for each shortlisted building, the commute at the hours your teams travel, nearest public transport, parking and motorcycle bays, and lift wait at peak times. We did not publish parking ratios, since we have no sourced figures for either district.

How to decide

Get a shortlist

Tell FlySpaces your headcount, whether you need PEZA, and where your staff live, and the team replies with a shortlist that fits. Inquire here