Stamford Rd site to get $250m makeover

SINGAPORE - Come 2018, the historic Capitol Building and Stamford House will re-emerge as a luxury five-star hotel.

Alongside it will be a new 15-storey retail and residence building, while the 81-year-old Capitol Theatre will be restored to its former glory to become the Republic's largest single-screen cinema cum performance theatre.

These details of the $250-million winning bid - from Capitol Retail Management, Capitol Hotel Management and Capitol Residential Development - to redevelop the 1.43-hectare land parcel at the junction of Stamford Road and North Bridge Road, were revealed by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday.

This announcement ends a 26-year stop-start process to breathe new life into this plum spot in the Civic District.

The site was released for sale on the reserve list in December 2008 and drew a total of 14 tenders.

The URA said Capitol's bid won out - from a final pool of three - because its plan "offers a high-quality development befitting of its prominent location within the Civic District and its rich architectural heritage".

The plan will breathe new life into Capitol Theatre, which screened its last movie in 1998.

Theatre groups will be given in-residence status to stage performances at the 800- to 1,000-seat theatre for part of the year, while Golden Village will operate the Republic's largest single-screen cinema for the rest of the year.

The 15-storey building, which will sit on where Capitol Centre is currently, will have four floors of retail and F&B outlets. The rest will be residential apartments, which analysts expect will fetch above $2,000 per square foot.

And on the streets: A sheltered civic plaza and a pedestrainised galleria lined with F&B offerings.

Cushman & Wakefield's managing director Donald Han told MediaCorp: "When the project is completed, it'll complete the entire necklace of activity around the Raffles City, City Hall area. Bottom line, it's going to create more vibrancy in the locality."

CBRE Research executive director Li Hiaw Ho said: "This unique development will would form a synergistic combination along with the current mixed-use development Raffles City as well as the upcoming South Beach, bringing an infusion of new diverse activity to the entire City Hall area."


Source : Today Online 28 Oct 2010