Orchard Road malls lack scale, but Taylor Swift-league events show a path to riches

Mar 11, 2024

BACK in the 1980s and the 1990s, the Orchard Road area was my go-to place for shopping, dining, entertainment and people watching.

I still enjoy visiting the area for its range of shops and F&B outlets. However, like many residents here, I now have numerous shopping, dining and entertainment options nearer to home, not to mention shopping online or venturing overseas to shop, wine and dine on the back of a strong Singapore currency.

Recently, the occupancy rate of retail space in the Orchard Road area has been improving. And various brands continue to set up flagship stores in the vicinity. Some analysts foresee brighter days for Orchard Road malls in the near term.



Nonetheless, the area needs to up its game to stand out as a shopping and leisure destination.

Redeveloping Tanglin Shopping Centre, Far East Shopping Centre and Hotel Properties Limited’s : H15 0% voco Orchard Singapore hotel, Forum The Shopping Mall and HPL House will help rejuvenate Orchard Road and bring many economic benefits.

The proposed redevelopment of voco Orchard, Forum and HPL House into a mixed development comprising hotel, retail, office and residential components with gross floor area (GFA) of over 1.2 million square feet (sq ft) is particularly exciting.

However, on reflection, the scale of the proposed redevelopment pales when compared to some new developments coming up in the region.

One Bangkok

During a recent event, Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi, group chief executive officer of Frasers Property Limited : TQ5 0% (FPL) talked passionately about the One Bangkok project. FPL is the minority partner in this project, which is being jointly developed with TCC Assets.

TCC is owned by the Sirivadhanabhakdi family, headed by Panote’s father Charoen, who is also FPL’s controlling shareholder.

One Bangkok is located at the corner of Rama IV Road and Wireless Road, next to Lumphini Park, in the heart of Thailand’s capital city.

The development’s scale is staggering. Land area is nearly 1.8 million sq ft and GFA will total almost 20 million sq ft.

One Bangkok, which could start opening later this year, will comprise three luxury residential towers, five Grade A office buildings, four hotels (including hotels under The Ritz-Carlton and Andaz brands), a serviced apartment component and four retail precincts with over 2 million sq ft of retail space.

On the sustainability front, towers in the developments will be built to LEED and WELL platinum standards. These are widely recognised international certifications.

Question of scale

Singapore is land scarce and the Orchard Road area is already built-up. Also, buildings in the area are owned by different parties.

Getting owners of neighbouring buildings to jointly undertake a larger scale redevelopment can be problematic. Negotiations over who drives the redevelopment, sharing of profit and costs, as well as the project’s positioning, design and so forth will be complicated.

Even as buildings in the Orchard Road undergo rejuvenation, the scale of the bigger malls may fall well short of some leading malls in the region.

Scale matters for destination malls. Larger assets may offer a wider variety of retail, F&B and leisure outlets to attract people of different age groups and increase the average time spent per visit.

Only a small proportion of Singapore residents live in the Orchard Road area. Invariably, the success of Orchard Road malls hinges on whether the area can draw international visitors.

Unfortunately, Orchard Road’s offerings may have insufficient pull for residents of neighbouring countries, which have large malls in their home markets. Also, a strong Singdollar makes Singapore expensive to many overseas visitors.

However, there is hope for owners with retail components that feature large in the redevelopment of their Orchard Road assets.

Drawing major events

Hope comes from Singapore’s ability to draw major events to its shores.

I know little about American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and her songs. Fortunately, my daughter is not a Swiftie as I shudder at the cost of a ticket for her concert and related merchandise.

However, there’s no denying that Swift’s visit here generated great buzz and gave the Singapore economy a considerable boost.

Swift’s Singapore visit as part of her Eras Tour was her only South-east Asian stop. Her six concerts here – from Mar 2 to 9 – sold over 300,000 tickets and drew thousands of fans from neighbouring countries. Hotels here saw room rates spike around the dates of the concerts.

Going forward, hotels and malls in the Orchard Road area need to bank on Singapore being a leading destination for major concerts, sports events, conferences, and exhibitions.

Whenever affluent and high-spending overseas visitors descend here for major events, some spending will flow to Orchard Road retailers given the street’s central location and its critical mass of retail offerings.

Various factors suggest Singapore will be a choice destination for hosting major events.

Singapore enjoys great air connectivity to many parts of the region and beyond. Changi Airport is well loved by international travellers.

Due to the region’s growing wealth, more major events will come to South-east Asia.

Singapore has good public health and safety as well as an efficient public transport network. The society is cosmopolitan and multicultural, which makes the city a welcoming place for overseas visitors.

Singapore is investing in new facilities. For example, there are plans to build a new best-in-class indoor arena in the Kallang area to replace the existing Singapore Indoor Stadium.

To add to all this, one can count on government agencies working assiduously and effectively to help bring major events here.

Singapore already has a growing track record for successfully staging world-class events such as the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix, which features a night race on a street circuit.

Looking ahead, if Singapore continues to draw affluent business and leisure visitors because of events, there will be large spillover benefits for owners of Orchard Road area malls.

Meanwhile, Orchard Road malls should differentiate themselves from domestic competition by going hard for the luxury segment.

Various leading luxury brands are prospering and expanding aggressively in top shopping locations such as New York City’s Fifth Avenue in the US.

It’s time to up the glamour factor in Orchard Road malls to woo the growing ranks of wealthy residents and affluent international visitors.

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