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CITY Development Limited’s (CDL)new eco-friendly City Square Mallin Little India has won accoladesfrom government agencies, architectsand ordinary Singaporeansalike. But it also means that itsanchor tenants, which were unveiledyesterday, have a tough actto follow.With the rest hard at work tocomeupwithgreenpractices beforethe $250-million mall’s openingat the end of next year, one ofthem,NTUC FairPrice, has alreadythrown down the gauntlet.Apart from pledging dedicatedcheckout lanes for shoppers withreusable bags — a first in Singapore— it will have a section solely fororganic products. The 26,000-sq-ftFairPrice outlet will also installmotion-sensor lighting in its officeand storeroom, whichmeansthey only light up when someoneis inside. It will also have energyefficientLED lights in its chillersand freezers.Said FairPrice’s managing directorSeah Kian Peng: “All the tenantswill want to make sure that we blendin with the theme, that we can alsodo our part to reinforce the growingawareness of going green.”
According to CDL, 70 percent of its shop space havebeen taken up, with basicrentals ranging between$8 to $15 per square foot amonth. The completed mall,located at the junction ofKitchener Road andSerangoonRoad, will boast morethan 250 shops, with 25 percent made up of food andbeverage outlets.Other than FairPrice,City Square Mall will featureeight other anchor tenants,including Metro, Best Denki,Popular and Kopitiam. Whilethese are household nameswith Singaporean shoppers,they will each offer a new retailexperience by going green.Their landlord will be “encouraging and facilitating” such measures,said Mr Chia Ngiang Hong,CDL’s group general manager.City Square Mall’s eco-friendlyfeatures — including urinals thatdo not use water and sensors thatmonitor carbon monoxide levelsin the air — saw CDL becoming thefirst private developer to clinch theBuilding and Construction Authority’sGreen Mark Platinum awardlast year.It also won the Cityscape AsiaReal Estate Award for Best Developer
this year.Directly connected to the FarrerPark MRT station, the 11-storeyshopping centre would feature an
adjacent 47,000-sq-ft park.Targeted at the heartland population, Mr Chia said the mallwould capture the crowds fromresidential estates along the NorthEast Line, where “there seems to be
shortage of good shopping areas”,according to a survey by propertyresearch firm DTZ.CDL expects to attract 1.3 millionpeople to the mall each month.While consumer sentiments appearto be weakening due to the economicslowdown, Mr Chia pointedout that the “buying sentimentsof the heartland population will
always be there”.Ms Corinne Yap, CDL’s deputygeneral manager of marketing andleasing, believes the mall can alsocash in on the fact that Little Indiaranks as one of Singapore’s topthree tourist destinations.
“We hope that tourists will useour mall as a meeting place ... walkaround Little India and come back
for lunch later on,” said Ms Yap