Shophouses in Katong to become hotel

Source : Straits Times - 24 Nov 2008

A ROW of nine pre-war shophouses, in the Peranakan enclave of Katong, are to be converted into a ‘character’ hotel aimed at leisure and business travellers.
Construction of the $12 million hotel on East Coast Road will start early next year and end in 2010.

Santa United International Holdings, a home-grown firm that started in the petroleum trading business but now boasts a growing hotel arm, will develop the project.

It will turn the property into the 67-room Santa Grand Hotel East Coast, keeping the conserved Peranakan-themed facade in the process.

The hotel will cover a land area of 1,150 sq m and will have a total gross floor area of 3,091 sq m. This will include a new five-storey extension with 750 sq m of gross floor area at the back of the two-storey shophouses. Some back portions of the shophouses will give way to the new block.

There will be a lap pool on the roof and a cafe, a restaurant and two shop units on the ground floor, where there will be alfresco sitting.

Santa United managing director Ng Cheng Lock told The Straits Times that he wanted to turn the property into a hotel because it is a rare stand-alone row of conserved shophouses situated in a charming area with a rich historical and cultural value.

Katong is home to many well-known eateries, particularly those serving Peranakan cuisine. And it was the place where Singapore’s wealthy elite set up homes in the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries.

When the opportunity to buy the row en bloc arose more than a decade ago, Mr Ng jumped at it. He paid about $17 million then as it was at the height of the property market, he said.

The hotel, near the Holy Family Church, will be a cosy character establishment, rather than a hip or upscale boutique one like Hotel 1929, he said.
While Mr Ng considered putting a hotel on the site a few years ago, work began on plans and paperwork only a year ago.

Provisional permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority came about two months ago in a ruling that included changing the land use from ‘commercial’ to ‘hotel’ and the go-ahead for the extension.

Some of the 12 tenants occupying the shops or the offices have already moved out. Santa, which also operates from the shophouses, is in the process of moving to a new office in Changi South.

The Hotel Licensing Board said Santa Grand Hotel East Coast will be subjected to a new hotel ruling that requires hotels along Joo Chiat Road and its surrounds to be let only at full-day rates from next year.

But Mr Ng is unperturbed as the firm plans to charge a daily rate of about $200. Other hotels in the Santa group also now charge daily rates, he said.
Santa owns five hotels under the Santa brand name and manages Victoria Hotel.

It started with Santa Grand Hotel Aljunied, known formerly as Sunwell Hotel, in Geylang a decade ago, and the group now has Santa Grand Hotel in West Coast and Santa Grand Hotel in Little India.

Its 80-room Santa Grand Hotel Bugis - located in two buildings, one a new development and the other a conservation house - is set to open early next year.
But the hotel in East Coast Road will be its grandest property, said Mr Ng.
Santa, which employs 130 people, recorded a turnover of about $70 million last year. Its hotels has some cross-over clients from its petroleum trading business, he said.

Fewer expats

Source : Sunday Times - 23 Nov 2008

Moving firms say more are seeking their services to relocate out of S’pore Call it down and out of Singapore.

Amid leaner economic times, companies here are cutting costs and one option is to reduce the number of expatriates.

At least one employer - Fortis Bank - has asked some of its foreign staff to pack their bags, and the recent job cuts announced by financial giant Citigroup could see more departures.

Indeed, several moving companies tell The Sunday Times that their business has been boosted in recent months.

Geometra Worldwide Movers now sees at least 15 expatriates relocating per month compared to only two or three before September, said its operations manager Steven Raj.

Most of his clients are families heading back to the United States while others are returning to Europe and Australia.

Ms Angelika Si Hoe, director of moving broker Cross Roads, has seen a 20 per cent jump in the number of clients compared to the previous year - even though the year has not ended.

At least 10 per cent of these cases stem from layoffs in the last two months.
‘Some are quite distressed when they come to me because they just lost their job and don’t know where they are going to. It’s very difficult for them as many have children,’ she said.

White-collar expatriates typically hold employment passes. According to the Ministry of Manpower, there are 99,000 employment pass holders as of December last year.

Another indication of expatriates moving out is reflected in the housing market.
Mr Eugene Lim, assistant vice-president at property firm ERA, said human resource managers are inquiring about the possibility of breaking rental leases.
‘They are exploring options and doing their sums. This is an indication that they want to get out,’ he noted.

As most expatriate rental leases last two years, companies have been asking landlords if they are open to the idea of finding a replacement tenant for the remaining period, he added.

These inquiries, which currently number fewer than 100, are mainly from the finance sectors.

Some property agents have also observed that expatriates who are staying put are increasingly price-conscious. They are moving from the central areas to the suburbs where rentals are cheaper by at least 30 per cent.

On the education front, a check with four international schools - United World College of South East Asia, Tanglin Trust School, Singapore American School and Canadian International School - shows there has not been a significant impact on withdrawals and waiting lists yet.

They said the effect will be more clearly seen next year. ‘Many expatriate schools start around August so we would be able to see if there’s any trend only in mid-2009,’ said Singapore American School communications director Beth Gribbon.
The same tale is told by international business networks here. Said Australian Chamber of Commerce executive director Annette Tilbrook: ‘It is very early days and there is no obvious difference. We always have a reasonable outflux of expats at this time of the year. What we don’t know is whether there will be replacements next year.’

An Australian expatriate, who wanted to be known only as David, is one of those leaving. The 45-year-old came three years ago to start his logistics firm but is returning to Melbourne with his wife and daughter because business has dived by 60 per cent in recent months.

‘I don’t think anyone saw this coming. First, the petrol crisis, then this. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back,’ he said.

A regional sales director at an American technology firm has also been asked to go because of cost-cutting. The 34-year-old and his wife plan to spend the next few months backpacking before returning to the US. ‘The job market we’re going back to in the US is pretty bad so we’re not intending to return immediately,’ he said.