SINGAPORE — With en-bloc plans for Far East Shopping Centre up in the air for a second time, shops located in the building along Orchard Road remain in limbo over their futures.
Several shop owners and tenants told TODAY that they are toying with the idea of retirement should the shopping centre find a willing buyer. Some are narrowing down their options to lease space in other malls, while others are unsure of their next move.
Far East Shopping Centre — built in 1974 with 298 shop units and managed by real estate developer Far East Organization — was put on sale again last Friday (April 19) at a guide price of S$928 million.
Once considered the most prominent commercial complex along Orchard Road, the strata-titled, mix-development building was to be sold to Glory Property Developments, an investment firm linked to China’s mining company Bright Ruby Resources run by Chinese tycoon Du Shuanghua.
It was set to be the largest collective sale of 2023 at about S$910 million, after 80 per cent of strata-titled unit owners signalled their support last June for it to go ahead.
However, The Business Times and property website EdgeProp later reported that the buyer rescinded the offer, after failing to get approval from the Urban Redevelopment Authority in January this year to extend the site’s gross floor area in its proposed redevelopment under the Strategic Development Incentive scheme.
Glory Property Developments, the buyer, wanted to increase the gross floor area by 20 per cent.
However, applications and proposals to redevelop existing sites in the Orchard Road area under the scheme should include a joint integrated redevelopment with adjacent properties. This condition was not met by the buyer.
For tailor Ruth Liam, a senior citizen who declined to give her age, her shop Daintie Dames that offers alteration services has grown a steady flow of customers over the past 20 years at the shopping centre.
She believes that with this second attempt at a collective sale, it is inevitable that she may have to move, even though she is sentimental about the place and moving is “a hassle” to her.
“There’s so much to move and we need to find a place,” she told TODAY in Mandarin as she nodded towards the rows of cloth sitting on a shelf.
“Luckily… the (first) sale didn’t go through and we can be here longer… This is a good location on Orchard Road, so there’s probably someone (who will want it).”
Over at gem shop Gems of Lanka, it may well be yet another move for Mr Jayampath Desilva and his wife Priyanthi.
The shop used to be at Tanglin Shopping Centre for more than 20 years until the shopping centre was sold for S$868 million in February 2022.
Last year, the couple signed a short-term two-year lease for their third-floor unit in Far East Shopping Centre and the store opened in mid-2023.
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