With rentals in the central business district hitting the roof, more retailers are choosing to set up shop away from the city centre.
Hoping to capitalise on this, Fraser and Neave chairman Lee Hsien Yang yesterday relaunched the group's Anchorpoint Shopping Centre in Alexandra Road following a $13-million renovation.
According to a company spokesman, average rentals at Anchorpoint, owned by Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT), are still below $10 per sq ft (pst), compared with prices as high as $70pst in Orchard Road. Even then, this is at least 40 per cent higher than pre-renovation.
"The new concept for Anchorpoint as a village-theme outlet mall has been a big hit in Singapore," says FCT chief executive Christopher Tang. "Traffic has been growing and we expect it to accelerate with the relaunch. More importantly, sales turnover at the stores has also risen markedly."
As a result, the shopping mall now enjoys an occupancy rate of 98 per cent with new outlets such as Billabong and Pedro. America's Disney has also set up its first food and beverage outlet in Singapore, "Disney Naturally".
Encouraged by the reception to Anchorpoint's revamp, FCT is now spending $38.6 million to renovate its Northpoint Mall. This will be integrated with its new Northpoint 2 development, which costs over $150 million to build and adds 80,000 sq ft of retail space.
No comments:
Post a Comment