JTC launches tender to develop hotel, retail shops

Source : Straits Times - 12 Jun 2008

This will add vibrancy to Changi Business Park, offer business travellers options

IN A Singapore first, the fast-growing Changi Business Park (CBP) is set to boast a hotel and retail outlets alongside the hubbub of enterprise.

A move yesterday by industrial landlord JTC Corp to invite developers to inject vibrancy into CBP with the novel development was warmly welcomed by the property market.

The 4.7ha site on offer, next to Singapore Expo, will include a business park’s regular features, such as an industrial space for high-tech and research and development firms.

JTC, however, yesterday asked that the proposals - which are to cover price and concept - should also include plans to develop a hotel and retail outlets. This is the first such project for a business park in Singapore.

It means business travellers attending exhibitions and conventions in the east will soon be able to rest and relax at CBP rather than heading elsewhere in town.

JTC said it expected CBP’s population of 6,000 to surge to 20,000 by 2011.

Mr Dominic Peters, the director of industrial services at property advisory firm Savills Singapore, said: ‘There is currently no retail component in and around CBP; just mere amenities like F&B outlets. A hotel and retail mixture will create some vibrancy in the evenings in and around the Changi area… The response for tenders should be overwhelming.’

The site will yield a gross floor area of 117,515 sq m, 40 per cent of which has been designated for commercial activities. About 45 per cent to 60 per cent of the area designated for commercial activities can be used for retail, leaving a floor area of 18,800 sq m to 25,900 sq m for a hotel.

Bids for the site could be in the region of a few hundred million dollars, some consultants said.

JTC has said it is catering to the rising demand for business park space and amenities in CBP.

CBP, launched in July 1997 and covering 66ha, houses a mix of high-tech, data and software enterprises, and R&D and knowledge-intensive outfits like IBM and Honeywell. It is also fast-becoming a hub for financial backroom operations, with Citibank, Credit Suisse, DBS Group Holdings and OCBC Bank poised to set up there.

Said a JTC spokesman: ‘The hotel component is a must and should be at least a three-star one catering to the business traveller.’

This is good news for CBP’s neighbour, Singapore Expo, just across Changi South Avenue 1.

A spokesman for Singex Venues said all 10 halls and 100,000 sq m of the Singapore Expo had been sold out through this month, citing the burgeoning meetings, incentive trips, conventions and exhibitions (Mice) industry.

A business hotel over the road could help meet this demand, as the country’s hotels have estimated that over 20 per cent of room revenue last year was from Mice visitors.

Said Mr Keith Oliver, the general manager of Singapore Expo: ‘The hotels will be good for our overseas exhibitors and visitors, who will find the proximity a great convenience.’

Interested developers have up to Aug 19 this year to submit their proposals for the tender.

LIVELIER MIX

‘A hotel and retail mixture will create some vibrancy in the evenings in and around the Changi area… The response for tenders should be overwhelming.’ - MR PETERS, of Savills Singapore, on the likely impact of developing a hotel and retail outlets in CBP