More boom for Changi

Source : Straits Times – 4 Jul 2009

PLANS are afoot to transform the area around the historic Johore Battery and Abingdon Work Release Camp in Changi into a heaving hub filled with shops, restaurants and museums.

The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) has invited tenders for the two sites, which are located about 200m apart.

Successful tenants must keep the historic parts of the area – including some five-storey-deep underground bunkers and a number of other exhibits – intact.

The area for lease covers 7,200 sq m, slightly smaller than a football field. The initial term is for three years, but can be renewed up to 2014.

This is the second time the SLA is trying to inject life into the sleepy area. In January last year, a company called Linkway was awarded a tender to open a steamboat restaurant in the area.

But it never came about and the sites were repossessed last December after they were found to have been used for unauthorised activities. SLA declined to say what these activities were.

Linkway has since shut down.

The two sites have a rich history.

The British built the Johore Battery in 1939 to defend Singapore. The gun emplacement site housed three giant cannons, and included a labyrinth of tunnels used to store ammunition.

The tunnels, sealed after World War II ended, were uncovered by the Singapore Prisons Department in 1991 by accident.

The Abingdon Camp, meanwhile, was used to house prisoners on the work release scheme. Meant to help them reintegrate into society, the scheme allowed them to leave the camp for work each morning and return in the evening.

The Johore Battery site is open to the public now, but attracts just the occasional visitor.

The SLA wants to change this by injecting life into the area and increasing its business viability.

SLA’s director of private land lease, Mr Lee Seng Lai, said it is ‘looking for a creative tenant who can take advantage of the heritage and historical value of the two sites and transform them to give visitors a unique experience of Singapore’.

The three-week-long bidding period, which began on Tuesday, has seen more than 10 parties indicating interest so far.

One bidder is 47-year-old businessman Mr B. Wong, a Changi resident.

‘Johore Battery is dead, and I’m glad an opportunity is present to give it a new lease of life,’ he said, while refusing to divulge his plans.

Mr Colin Tan, the director of research and consultancy at real estate consultancy Chesterton Suntec International, said the site has commercial viability.

‘Tenants can capitalise on its rustic charm and greenery; it is workable,’ he said. But he added that whoever secures the lease ‘must have a unique concept to pull people in because the area is quite out of the way’.

His suggestion: Low rents during the initial stages, promotions and a shuttle service to pull in customers.

Some historical sites have proven to be hits when transformed. For example, the Dempsey Road area – previously home to the Ministry of Defence and its Central Manpower Base – has been transformed from a plot with crumbling buildings into one of the hottest wining and dining areas in town.

Closer to the Johore Battery, the old Changi Hospital site was snapped up when it was put up for bidding in 2006.

It is undergoing a $20 million makeover to turn it into a spa resort, and is scheduled to open next year.

Residents of the area, meanwhile, are looking forward to changes in the neighbourhood.

Retiree Chia Seow Eng, 64, who lives at New Upper Changi Road, said in Mandarin: ‘It’s a good thing, we need more things to do.’

For more information on the Johore Battery and Abingdon Camp sites, visit SLA’s State Property and Information Online portal at www.spio.sla.gov.sg, or call its hotline on 6323-9154.