Chinatown Business Association wins tender to manage iconic Smith Street in Chinatown
The Chinatown Business Association (CBA) has won the tender for a row of legendary shophouses throughout Smith Road in Chinatown. CBA contains stakeholders operating in Chinatown, like business leaders, grassroots leaders, Chinese clan organizations, hoteliers, hawkers and merchants.
The tender to select a single master renter to supervise the historic row of shophouses at 11 to 37 Smith Street was collectively launched by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) back in November last year.
She includes that CBA will present “distinctly Singaporean F&B offerings and international food offerings for both locals and tourists to enjoy at Smith Road”.
Noontalk Media sent the highest proposal of $180,000, followed by runner-up CBA. Other quotes stretched from $108,174 from Benlo Ventures to $68,177 from ABR Holdings and a $53,000 quote from IGYM Fitness.
“This experience is one-of-a-kind to CBA, and we hope to utilize on our relationships in the community and knowledge of Chinatown Singapore’s heritage and society to inject more vibrancy to Smith Road and Chinatown Singapore,” states Lim.
According to SLA, the revitalised Smith Street will view a new line-up of way of life concepts and eating experiences. It states that CBA’s proposition of “separated lifestyle principles, complementary programs and improvements to the general public realm aims to further promote local Chinese heritage and reinforce the identification of the area”.
The master renter are going to embark on the integrated management of the shophouses and an adjacent State land plot, which have an overall land area of 34,066 sq ft and an estimated gross floor area of 33,065 sq ft.
Lim states that the tender activity was “extremely competitive” yet CBA gained from its active visibility in the district for over twenty years. “Over the 2 decades, we have actually constructed and nurtured connections, and this has bought us an ingrained link to the ground,” she says. The organisation has indeed organised past event such as wide-scale celebration parties such as 5 Footway Festival and Dumpling Festival, to motif markets, street tasks, events and workshops.
The tender was examined based on price and the top quality of each provided concept. It attracted 5 various prospective buyers the minute the tender closed in March, including CBA which sent the winning proposal of $123,000. As the master tenant, CBA will certainly manage the buildings for 5 years plus a 2nd term of 4 years.
“Visitors to Chinatown Singapore can anticipate even more curated offerings and experiences for both locals and visitors upon the completion of the Smith Street rejuvenation venture. We are looking to generate much more engaging and experiential neighborhood programs, along with even more various offerings such as creative way of living, retail industry and co-living/co-working approaches, while preserving and enjoying the area’s ethnical and building ancestry,” says Lim Yick Suan, executive director, Chinatown Business Association.
