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(SINGAPORE) The heat is on Wisma Atria and its 74-per-cent owner, listed Macquarie MEAG Prime Reit (MMP Reit).

"If they shut down the walkway it will have a serious impact in terms of business for the shops there.' - an analyst

BT understands the mall next to Orchard MRT Station could soon lose - at least for a year or so - its default captive-shopper base from MRT commuters exiting Orchard MRT Station, who tend to flow into Wisma Atria's Basement 2 on the same level.

The reason: The CapitaLand and Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) joint venture developing the Orchard Turn site will soon have to seal the crucial underground walkway between Orchard MRT Station and Wisma Atria at Basement 2, as piling begins for their new mall-and-apartment project that will go down to Basement 4 and rise 53 storeys above ground, BT understands.

The Basement 2 link between Orchard MRT and Wisma Atria is vital to attracting shoppers to the mall, many of whom then continue to walk along the passageway to Ngee Ann City next door. The impending closure is therefore expected to have negative implications for MMP Reit, which owns 74 per cent of Wisma Atria and 27 per cent of Ngee Ann City.

'The basement walkway between Orchard MRT Station and Wisma Atria is of critical importance,' said an analyst. 'If they shut down the walkway it will have a serious impact in terms of business for the shops there. Most of the shops in Wisma Atria's Basement 2 are paying gross monthly rents of $50-65 per square foot - among the highest in Singapore.

'This is likely to have an adverse impact on revenues that MMP Reit can collect from its tenants.'

The Basement 2 walkway between Orchard MRT Station and Wisma Atria, about 20 metres long, is currently lined with posters promoting shops there.

A site visit by BT yesterday showed that at street level, hoarding has already gone up at the section of the site that adjoins Wisma Atria - signalling that construction work is imminent. These usually start with excavation and piling.

An inspection of tender documents issued by Urban Redevelopment Authority for the Orchard Turn site shows the site's boundary abuts Wisma Atria and includes the passageway at Basement 2 that links the mall to the MRT station.

The passage area used to belong to the state but was sold by URA as part of the Orchard Turn site clinched by CapitaLand-SHKP in a state tender in December last year.

Under the tender conditions, the joint-venture company, Orchard Turn Developments Pte Ltd, will have to ensure it continues to provide an exit for MRT commuters to Orchard Road during construction work.

The existing street-level entrances to the MRT Station along Orchard Road and Orchard Boulevard will remain open.

And the area at Basement 2 leading to the Orchard underpass and CK Tang, Shaw House and Wheelock Place will also remain open.

As the boundary of the Orchard Turn site abuts Wisma Atria and includes the link to the MRT station, and given the new project will have four basement levels, industry experts envisage that the Basement 2 link to Wisma Atria will likely soon have to be shut off by a diaphragm wall, one that will have to be built to enclose the entire section where piling works are to be carried out for the Orchard Turn project, BT understands. Piling could begin as soon as September or October to meet the stringent deadline for the Orchard Turn mall's opening by Christmas 2008, as previously announced.

Based on the extensive scope of works, industry observers reckon the Basement 2 link may be shut for at least a year.

Indeed, the area around both Orchard and Somerset MRT stations will be abuzz with construction activity for the next three years. In the Somerset area, Far East Organization will redevelop the former Glutton's Square site it clinched at a state tender in January and in which OCBC, owner of the next-door Specialists' Shopping Centre, has taken a 10 per cent stake.

Specialists' Centre is also expected to be revamped - either a total redevelopment or a massive retrofitting. And next to it, the Somerset Central site tender which closed on Wednesday drew a top bid from Australia's Lend Lease group, which is planing an all-retail project.