Friday, July 14, 2006
[RealEdge] TodayOnline : Scotts to close by year end for 'super luxury' homes
 This story was printed from TODAYonline | |
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| Scotts to close by year end for 'super luxury' homes Friday July 14, 2006 Christie Loh christie@newstoday.com.sg THIS Christmas will be a tad sentimental for some when the iconic Scotts Shopping Centre shuts its doors on Dec 31 after 22 years in the Orchard district. By that day, the 70-odd tenants will have moved out of the mall, according to a letter sent out earlier this week to shopowners from landlord Wheelock Properties. Also ceasing operations will be The Ascott Singapore serviced apartments, which were the country's first when the Jumabhoy family opened them in 1984. The existing building will be torn down by mid-next year to be replaced by a "super luxury residential and retail development", a Wheelock spokeswoman told Today when contacted, without elaborating. She added that a name change was likely although "kind of early to say now". Already, physical changes are evident. Luxury watch retailer Hour Glass moved out last month, but stayed close by at Tang Plaza about 200m away. Over in the basement of Scotts, music chain Gramophone is trumpeting a "moving out sale". "It's a very sad thing," said Mr Anthony Chia, branch manager of Watches of Switzerland, one of the first retailers to set up shop in the mall. Even newer tenant Kiehl's, a New York-based cosmetic retailer, is getting a "a little sentimental" about closing its first flagship store, set up in Scotts in Nov 2004, brand manager Lynda Lee told Today. For Crème, a cosmetics and skincare distributor, finding a replacement to its only retail outlet will be tough. "Our customers are so comfortable with the set-up even though it's an old building. When the tai-tais come in, there's not much of a crowd and most of the stores here give personalised service, unlike at big department stores," said Ms Nisha Kader, retail operations director of Crème's parent firm Cosmetique Essential. Yet, from the developer's perspective, it is also Scotts' very location that will rake in big money when the overhaul is completed by 2010. "Nothing can match it," said Mr Lui Seng Fatt, regional director and head of investments at property research firm Jones Lang LaSalle, citing the proximity of the Orchard MRT station and the shopping belt. In place of the existing 23-storey serviced residence, Wheelock is planning to build 300 freehold homes in a 43-storey tower, as well as upmarket retail space spread over two floors and a basement. Mr Lui estimates that the residential units will draw as much as $2,500 per square foot, similar to the prices attracted by City Developments' St Regis Residences, a top-end condominium on nearby Cuscaden Road. If that materialises, Wheelock would make a handsome profit, having acquired the Scotts Road property from The Ascott Group in June 2004 for $345 million. Mr Lui expects half of the buyers of the Scotts redevelopment to be foreign investors, who by 2009 will also get to pick from the upcoming 99-year leasehold Orchard Turn retail-cum-residential project by CapitaLand and Hong Kong's Sun Hung Kai Properties. | |
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// posted by Shajahan @ 3:05 PM 