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Orchard Central will have 10 floors and boast a new Gluttons Square on its rooftop

SINGAPORE’S tallest mall, which will include food stalls situated on the 10th floor, will be developed on the Gluttons Square site by Far East Organization.

The mall will also be the first here to be built along the lines of Tokyo’s famous Ginza shopping district, where buildings compensate for their small plot sizes by piling on several floors of retail space.

Far East’s new mall is certainly on a small plot but will boast a 160m Orchard Road frontage and occupy a gross floor area of nearly 388,000 sq ft.

And while most Orchard Road malls go up five levels with two basements, Far East’s project will comprise 10 floors and two basements. There will be 12 glass lifts and 78 escalators.

Far East, which unveiled its concept yesterday, is reserving the top floor for a rooftop Gluttons Square. It hopes to have about 70 to 80 stalls, with some of the original stallholders or their descendants signing up.

‘We want to preserve the heritage of Gluttons Square,’ said Mr Chia Boon Pin, chief operating officer of Far East’s retail and lifestyle concepts business group.

All of the ninth floor, together with a part of levels five to eight and 10, will be reserved for 382 car park lots. Other floors will have shops and food and beverage outlets arranged in clusters.

‘It’s like a building within a building,’ said architect Bruce Ngam of DP Architects. It will also feature a colour-changing glass facade at night.

Orchard Central, as the mall will be called, should be finished late in 2008 at a cost of $650 million. Far East won the site in a tender in January with a bid of $421.1 million.

The ambitious plans are a sign that Far East, once known as the kingpin of Orchard Road malls, is back at the leading edge in the industry.

‘Far East Organization has always been a first mover in the retail industry,’ said the newly-appointed president of its Far East Retail Consultancy, Mrs Vivienne Tan.

It is also planning to spruce up its older malls such as Riverside Point.

The plans also spell an end to speculation that the three owners of the adjacent sites near Somerset MRT station, including Specialists’ Shopping Centre, would combine in a joint project.

Australia’s Lend Lease group emerged as the highest bidder for the other Somerset plot last week, which sparked talk that the three owners could work together to create an attractive shopping destination.

But while a mega-mall may be off the agenda, some form of cooperation between the three is likely. Their sites will share a pedestrian walkway to be built over part of the Stamford Canal.

‘We are sharing a common frontage, a walkway and one MRT station. Of course, we will talk,’ said Mrs Tan.

‘We believe in building a shopping precinct instead of just a shopping centre, This stretch is going to be quite happening.’

OCBC, which owns Specialists’ Centre, and Lend Lease have said they are keen to consider working together.

‘Going up to 10 floors is so far unheard of here. It is something new and exciting,’ said Mr Danny Yeo of property consultancy Knight Frank.

‘If the three sites are connected on every floor, it will be a clear bonus to the owners and will create a unique shopping experience.’

Meanwhile, Far East is filling up shop space at Central in Clarke Quay and Square 2 in Novena.

It will also work on repositioning some of its malls such as Riverside Point and Ginza Plaza to improve their yields, said Mr Chia.

Source : Straits Times - 23 Aug 2006