BT : New Katong Mall attracts 3 key tenants

Business Times - 10 Jul 2010

New Katong Mall attracts 3 key tenants

Cold Storage's Market Place, Golden Village and BreadTalk will lease about 32% of NLA

By NICHOLAS YEO

A NEW Peranakan-themed mall will soon take the place of the former Katong Mall and mark the debut mall for Pua Seck Guan's Perennial Real Estate in Singapore.

Mr Pua is CEO of Perennial Real Estate and formerly CEO of Capitaland Retail.

The mall, located at the junction of East Coast Road and Joo Chiat Road, will have a net lettable area (NLA) of 207,000 sq ft, 20 per cent larger than before.

It has already secured three key tenants. Cold Storage's Market Place will take up about 13,000 sq ft of space. Meanwhile, Golden Village multiplex will take up 30,000 sq ft, boasting eight halls, two of which will be Gold Class Halls. This will be a first in the eastern part of Singapore. The third key tenant is George Quek's BreadTalk group, which will open a 15,000 sq ft Food Republic Food Atrium and 7,500 sq ft of restaurants such as BreadTalk, Din Tai Fung and Toastbox.

The space leased by these three tenants will amount to about 32 per cent of the NLA.

The mall will feature six levels of retail - basement 1 and from level 1 to 5, with an atrium on level 2. Basements 2 and 3 will have 310 carpark lots.

The mall is owned by Perennial Katong Retail trust, a private trust constituted for the purpose of buying Katong Mall. Investors in the trust include Alpha Investment Partners Limited's Asia Macro Trends Fund, which holds a majority stake of 77 per cent. It is a unit of Keppel Corp. Other investors include BreadTalk Group Limited and Mr Pua, among others. The mall will be managed by Perennial (Singapore) Retail Management Pte Ltd.

Katong Mall is currently undergoing redevelopment and is expected to be ready by the third quarter of 2011. The contract is worth $60 million and has been awarded to SEF Construction Pte Ltd.

'The expected rent is about $12 psf per month on average,' said Mr Pua.

The mall, designed by DP Architects, will reflect the Peranakan culture that surrounds the mall and seamlessly integrate itself with the many F&B outlets around the area. For example, the first two floors will be dedicated to F&B and bars that will operate till extended closing hours that will complement the surroundings and the cinema upstairs.

Mr Pua believes that the new mall will do better than the former strata-titled Katong Mall because it will come under single ownership, where Perennial Retail Management will be able to control the tenant mix and positioning.

About 30 per cent of the mall space is expected to be designated F&B with another 30 per cent dedicated to fashion and accessories.

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