Chinatown Business Association wins tender to manage iconic Smith Street in Chinatown
The Chinatown Business Association (CBA) has actually won the tender for a row of iconic shophouses along Smith Street in Chinatown. CBA includes stakeholders running in Chinatown, including business leaders, grassroots leaders, Chinese clan organizations, hoteliers, hawkers and stores.
“This experience is distinct to CBA, and we intend to leverage on our connections in the neighborhood and knowledge of Chinatown Singapore’s heritage and society to infuse more excitement to Smith Street and Chinatown Singapore,” states Lim.
The master tenant will embark on the combined management of the shophouses and a surrounding State land plot, which have a complete acreage of 34,066 sq ft and an approximated gross floor location of 33,065 sq ft.
She includes that CBA is going to present “distinctly Singaporean F&B offerings and worldwide food offerings for either locals and tourists to indulge in at Smith Road”.
Lim states that the tender exercise was “very challenging” but CBA benefitted from its active existence in the district for over 20 years. “Over the 2 decades, we have actually built and nurtured partnerships, and this has afforded us a deep-rooted link to the ground,” she claims. The organisation has arranged past occasion such as wide-scale festival celebrations such as Five Footway Celebration and Dumpling Event, to motif markets, street tasks, occasions and workshops.
The tender was evaluated based on cost and the top quality of each sent approach. It brought in five several prospective buyers the minute the tender came March, including CBA which submitted the winning proposal of $123,000. As the master occupant, CBA will handle the properties for 5 years plus a second term of 4 years.
Noontalk Media submitted the greatest quote of $180,000, followed by runner-up CBA. Other bids stretched from $108,174 from Benlo Ventures to $68,177 from ABR Holdings and a $53,000 quote from IGYM Fitness.
According to SLA, the revitalised Smith Street are going to view a new line-up of way of living concepts and eating experiences. It says that CBA’s proposition of “set apart way of living ideas, corresponding programs and improvements to the public field aims to better promote regional Chinese heritage and strengthen the identification of the location”.
The tender to designate an one master lessee to oversee the historical row of shophouses at 11 to 37 Smith Street was jointly introduced by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) back in November in 2023.
“Visitors to Chinatown Singapore can anticipate even more curated offerings and experiences for both locals and travellers upon the completion of the Smith Street restoration project. We are looking to generate much more engaging and experiential neighborhood programmes, along with more diverse offerings such as innovative way of life, retail industry and co-living/co-working approaches, while preserving and commemorating the area’s cultural and architectural culture,” states Lim Yick Suan, managing director, Chinatown Business Association.
