Orchard Road will be adding a new face to its shopping belt, with a retail, hotel and office project soon to come up at the sites of the former Specialists’ Centre and Hotel Phoenix, and also Orchard Emerald mall.
The project will cost nearly S$700 million and is slated for completion in the second half of 2013.
Recently, a groundbreaking ceremony was held to mark the beginning of the redevelopment of the three neighbouring sites on Orchard Road.
A four-star hotel with 500 rooms will be developed at the site of Specialists’ Centre and Hotel Phoenix, along with more than 21,000 sq m of retail space.
United Engineers Limited (UEL) is developing the site, which is wholly-owned by OCBC.
The former Orchard Emerald site, wholly-owned and developed by Great Eastern Holdings, comprises 2,700 sq m of retail space and nearly 3,500 sq m of office space.
Both sites will be connected by a glass overhead bridge across Orchard Road, which is the first in Singapore, according to UEL.
The developer is not concerned that the new development is a relatively latecomer in the Orchard Road shopping strip. “We are the last of the jigsaw that would make this into a significant shopping area. The key to this is connectivity,” said Jackson Yap, CEO of UEL.
“You can go seamlessly in bad weather and so on, into the three shopping malls. You can cross the street, and also shop on the other side of the road,” he added.
The new development will also be connected to Orchard Central and 313@Somerset, while its Basement 1 will be connected to the Somerset MRT station.
“Phoenix Hotel has always been well-occupied, partly because of its location and also its proximity to many shopping malls. So we expect the hotel to be full and the hotel is full because we have good shopping tenants!,” said Mr. Yap.