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 Street in Chinatown. CBA contains stakeholders running in Chinatown, including business leaders, grassroots leaders, Chinese clan associations, hoteliers, hawkers and stores.
“Visitors to Chinatown Singapore can eagerly anticipate even more curated services and experiences for both locals and tourists upon the completion of the Smith Street restoration venture. We are looking to generate much more engaging and experiential neighborhood programs, as well as even more different offerings just like innovative lifestyle, retail industry and co-living/co-working practices, while preserving and celebrating the place’s ethnical and architectural heritage,” claims Lim Yick Suan, managing head, Chinatown Business Association.
The tender was examined based on cost and the high quality of each sent concept. It drew in 5 various prospective buyers when the tender closed in March, including CBA which submitted the winning offer of $123,000. As the master renter, CBA will handle the properties for 5 years plus a second term of four years.
According to SLA, the revitalised Smith Street are going to view a new line-up of lifestyle concepts and dining experiences. It states that CBA’s bid of “separated way of living ideas, complementary programs and improvements to the public realm aims to further promote local Chinese heritage and strengthen the identification of the location”.
Lim claims that the tender activity was “extremely challenging” yet CBA took advantage of its energetic visibility in the district for over two decades. “Over the two decades, we have actually developed and fostered relationships, and this has actually afforded us a deep-rooted connection to the ground,” she says. The organisation has indeed organised past occasion such as wide-scale celebration celebrations such as Five Footway Celebration and Dumpling Festival, to motif markets, street activities, events and workshops.
The tender to designate an one master tenant to supervise the historical row of shophouses at 11 to 37 Smith Street was mutually launched by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) back in November in 2023.
The master tenant are going to carry out the combined management of the shophouses and a surrounding State land story, which have an overall land area of 34,066 sq ft and an approximated gross floor area of 33,065 sq ft.
“This experience is special to CBA, and we wish to take advantage of on our connections in the neighborhood and knowledge of Chinatown Singapore’s heritage and society to infuse even more vibrancy to Smith Road and Chinatown Singapore,” says Lim.
Noontalk Media sent the highest 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.
She includes that CBA is going to introduce “distinctly Singaporean F&B offerings and global food offerings for either citizens and visitors to indulge in at Smith Road”.
