WORK will soon begin at Bugis Junction to add more than 1,000 sq m of shop space to the mall. At Raffles City, there are plans to add 14,000 sq m to 18,500 sq m.
The fact that neither mall has any adjacent free land does not seem to matter.
Mall mania has hit Singapore and the drive to keep up with new arrivals like VivoCity has developers resorting to different methods to upgrade their space.
At Bugis, developer CapitaLand will create an extra 441 sq m of shop space by narrowing the wide ground-floor walkways, where free-standing carts currently hawk items like costume jewellery and T-shirts.
They will create a further 593 sq m of space on the third floor by destroying all the partitions and converting it into a foodcourt.
The basement foodcourt near the MRT exit will be moved upstairs and replaced by a mixture of shops.
There will also be major changes to the mall facade.
The phased project is targeted to finish by mid-2008.
At Raffles City, carpark space on three underground levels will make way for shops. While CapitaLand said that lost carpark space will be restored, it would not reveal how or where.
When completed around 2009, the new basement will have a direct walkway link to the upcoming Circle Line Esplanade MRT station. There are also plans to add a similar link to the existing City Hall station.
These makeovers are essential to keep the malls competitive, said the chief executive of CapitaLand's retail division, Mr Pua Seck Guan.
'A mall has a life. And you must continually renovate and innovate to attract shoppers,' he said.
