reporter2
04-02-22, 10:25
Changing a neighbourhood, one shophouse at a time
EdgeProp Singapore
February 4, 2022
https://i.imgur.com/0gItK5I.jpg
Since the Covid outbreak, neighbourhood cafés have become important hubs at the intersection of life and work. In Katong, Neptune, a new café concept by Atlas Coffeehouse group that opened in March 2021, has given the corner of East Coast Road and Lorong Stangee a new lease of life.
Neptune has taken the place of Firebake, a bakehouse and restaurant that boasted a wood-fired oven, built from 37 tonnes of bricks shipped in from Australia. The restaurant opened in 2017, and was famous for its woodfire-baked pizza and sourdough bread. However, it closed in August 2020.
Rina Raj, a 31-year-old, self-styled shophouse investor, is undaunted. She owns the corner shophouse at 237 East Coast Road. “Covid and work from home [WFH] has brought the crowds back to the neighbourhood,” she says. “You can see people coming in at all times of the day — for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
https://i.imgur.com/v7B6RO8.jpg
That’s one of the reasons why Raj, the CEO of B Capital, wants to focus on shophouses in established neighbourhoods such as Katong, Serangoon Gardens, Tiong Bahru and Bukit Timah.
Having grown up in the Katong area, it’s only natural that her first shophouse acquisition should be in her own neighbourhood.
She used to frequent the former coffeeshop, Carlton Restaurant, at 237 East Coast Road when she was studying at CHIJ Katong just down the road. The coffeeshop, which had been there for more than 20 years, was famous for its roast duck and roast pork.
Read more at: https://www.edgeprop.sg/property-news/changing-neighbourhood-one-shophouse-time
EdgeProp Singapore
February 4, 2022
https://i.imgur.com/0gItK5I.jpg
Since the Covid outbreak, neighbourhood cafés have become important hubs at the intersection of life and work. In Katong, Neptune, a new café concept by Atlas Coffeehouse group that opened in March 2021, has given the corner of East Coast Road and Lorong Stangee a new lease of life.
Neptune has taken the place of Firebake, a bakehouse and restaurant that boasted a wood-fired oven, built from 37 tonnes of bricks shipped in from Australia. The restaurant opened in 2017, and was famous for its woodfire-baked pizza and sourdough bread. However, it closed in August 2020.
Rina Raj, a 31-year-old, self-styled shophouse investor, is undaunted. She owns the corner shophouse at 237 East Coast Road. “Covid and work from home [WFH] has brought the crowds back to the neighbourhood,” she says. “You can see people coming in at all times of the day — for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
https://i.imgur.com/v7B6RO8.jpg
That’s one of the reasons why Raj, the CEO of B Capital, wants to focus on shophouses in established neighbourhoods such as Katong, Serangoon Gardens, Tiong Bahru and Bukit Timah.
Having grown up in the Katong area, it’s only natural that her first shophouse acquisition should be in her own neighbourhood.
She used to frequent the former coffeeshop, Carlton Restaurant, at 237 East Coast Road when she was studying at CHIJ Katong just down the road. The coffeeshop, which had been there for more than 20 years, was famous for its roast duck and roast pork.
Read more at: https://www.edgeprop.sg/property-news/changing-neighbourhood-one-shophouse-time