Largest Commercial Area Outside Town

Source : The Straits Times, Apr 5, 2008

MOVE over, Tampines. Jurong is set to be the next big suburban commercial hub.

About 70ha around the Jurong East MRT station have been set aside for the new Jurong Gateway, which will be the largest business district outside of town.

BIG DRAW: Jurong Gateway will host offices, shops, homes, hotels, restaurants and entertainment centres.

Offices, shops, homes, hotels, restaurants and entertainment centres are just some of the facilities earmarked for the site, said National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan yesterday.

Jurong Gateway will provide about 8.1 million sq ft of office and retail space - more than double Tampines’ and more than three times Novena’s, Mr Mah said.

About two-thirds of the space will be set aside for offices, while a third will be for retail, restaurant and entertainment outlets. There will be a mix of large, modern malls and low-rise shops in a ‘village setting’.

Jurong Entertainment Centre, part of CapitaLand’s CapitaMall Trust, is also being revamped and will house an Olympic-size ice-skating rink next year.

Mr Mah also said more than 1,000 new private homes will be added around the MRT station, and up to 2,800 hotel rooms in the area.

The spate of development will make Jurong Gateway ‘an attractive location for company headquarters, especially those from the business services and science and technology sectors’, he said, adding that Jurong East is ‘already a thriving business hub today’, with more than 3,000 companies in Jurong and Tuas.

Property consultants welcomed the plans. ‘Making plans now would prevent a possible repeat of the supply crunch we are experiencing,’ said Ms Tay Huey Ying of Colliers International.