Specialists' Centre Project Gets The Green Light

Source : The Business Times, October 27, 2007

Go-ahead for several projects to ease space crunch

OCBC Bank and its insurance subsidiary Great Eastern Holdings are poised to redevelop the Specialists' Shopping Centre and Hotel Phoenix complex, together with shopping mall Orchard Emerald just across the road.

And when works are complete, the new project could have some 314,000 square feet of retail space, 66,000 sq ft of office space and 684 hotel rooms, judging by the two companies' submissions to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

URA said that provisional permission for the development of the two properties was given in August this year.

OCBC owns the Specialists' Shopping Centre and Hotel Phoenix complex, while Great Eastern owns Orchard Emerald.

When contacted, OCBC said that it has 'made certain submissions to the relevant authorities and received provisional approvals with regard to the possibility of redevelopment of the property'.

'We are currently exploring several possibilities with regard to working with other developers in redeveloping the property,' said Koh Ching Ching, head of group corporate communications at OCBC.

Market watchers said that there could be some sort of an underground link between the Specialists' Shopping Centre and Hotel Phoenix complex and Orchard Emerald - beneath Orchard Road - in a bid to maximise the plot ratio.

URA's quarterly update on projects under development also showed that there are extension works planned for OUB Centre at Raffles Place.

Provisional permission has been given for the addition of 301,000 sq ft of office space and 32,000 sq ft of retail space. The extension is expected to be up in 2011.

Approval was also given for the redevelopment of the former Robinson Towers and former International Factors Building on Robinson Road. Owned by Tuan Sing, the project will offer some 258,000 sq ft of gross floor area (GFA) for office use once it is completed in 2010.

JTC Corporation has also received permission for an office development at Fusionopolis Phase 2A at science hub one-north, which will have 161,000 sq ft of office space when it is up in 2010.

The new developments are expected to ease the current shortage of office space.

Rentals for office space in Singapore increased by 14.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2007, compared to 11 per cent in the second quarter, URA's data shows. Rents have climbed some 40.7 per cent since the start of the year.

As at the end of the third quarter of 2007, there was a total supply of 6.6 million sq ft of GFA of office space from projects in the pipeline - from both government and private land sources - which are expected to be completed between the fourth quarter of 2007 and 2010, URA said.

'More supply will also come from the government land sales sites which were recently awarded or launched for sale,' URA said.

There was also a total supply of some 4.1 million sq ft of business park space from projects in the pipeline as at end-September 2007, which will be completed by 2010, URA said.

URA's data also showed that it has given provisional permission for a 352-room hotel development at Telok Blangah Road to Fiesta Development Pte Ltd. The site, which previously housed Citiport Centre, was sold in a collective sale.