Planned leisure hub in bad shape

Source : Straits Times – 20 Jan 2010

THE lifestyle hub that was supposed to come up in Sembawang – troubled from the start – may now be on its last legs.

Two anchor tenants have pulled out, and a third is making tracks to leave.

If that third one goes, all that will remain of the planned leisure hub on Admiral Hill will be a childcare centre and a 40-table steamboat restaurant.

Already, what was touted in 2007 as the Dempsey of the north is looking run-down.

Last month, its biggest tenant, the 900-seat Chinese restaurant Dragon Phoenix, threw in the towel.

Its owner Chris Hooi said he had sunk $1 million into renovating the 15,000 sq ft site, and was already more than $500,000 in the red.

The first to quit was Admiral Bar & Grill, which closed in November last year. It had been bleeding about $3,000 a month.

The next to go could be The Tanjong poolside cafe. Its owner, Mr Lim Hong Wee, said he does not intend to stay on for more than three months.

The developer of Admiral Hill, the Yess Group, won a Singapore Land Authority (SLA) tender to develop the site in 2007. It beat other bidders by offering to pay $40,000 a month in rent, more than $5,000 above the guide rent.

Yess had big plans: It said it would bring in tenants to run restaurants, a country club, rock-climbing facilities, beauty and health centres, and a golf driving range, among other things.

But instead of these lifestyle facilities, an illegal school and a workers’ dormitory came up on the site.

Both were ordered to shut.

Mr Hooi, the owner of Dragon Phoenix, said that without the lifestyle attractions, few people came.

He said he had been told to expect corporate functions and families coming in for horse riding, for example.

‘You think I wanted to leave? I’ve put so much money into it,’ he said.

In anticipation of corporate clients, Mr Hooi had added seminar rooms to his restaurant and kitted them with audio-visual hardware for meetings.

But no one came.

‘I had no choice. There were no customers and there was too much space. We were bleeding,’ he said, adding that he met Yess several times to discuss the matter, without success.

Admiral Bar & Grill owner Victor Teo, 41, had a similarly grim tale to tell.

He pumped $150,000 into renovations, but was losing money from the time he opened for business in late 2007.

‘There is nothing here to pull in the crowds,’ he said.

However, promise seemed to lie in the karaoke rooms, which he said Yess approved. Business picked up when the rooms were added. But Mr Teo said that Yess told him later that an entertainment licence from the SLA was needed for the rooms to continue operating, and that it would help him apply for it.

Mr Teo said he pressed Yess to get the licence to reflect the change of use, but this was not done.

Meanwhile, The Tanjong cafe’s Mr Lim said he handed in his quit letter last November, but Yess pleaded with him to stay.

The deal they struck allows the cafe to be open only on weekends and pay only minimal rent.

Mr Lim, 55, said: ‘They asked me to stay because they needed someone to service the pool.’

He now sees that the pool is maintained, on top of running the cafe. But even he wants to go in two to three months because there are so few customers.

Contacted yesterday, Yess declined comment.

In a statement, the SLA said it was aware of the recent closures, but stressed that it would not interfere as it is a ‘commercial matter between a master tenant and its sub-tenants’.

‘It is not appropriate for SLA to speculate on reasons for the cessation of business operations or to interfere, as long as there are no breaches in the terms of the tenancy agreement,’ said a spokesman.

He added that Yess had taken action to rectify its past breaches.

Analysts contacted said it was unlikely the area would ever take off at this rate.

Mr Colin Tan, director of research and consultancy at real estate consultancy Chesterton Suntec International, said it was ‘highly unlikely that such a leisure hub would materialise’.

The site is also home to the two-storey Old Admiralty House, a national monument, which was built to accommodate Royal Navy officers in 1939, before being converted into a seafood restaurant in the 1970s after the British pulled out.

The house now stands empty.