General

Rentals of office space in the central region of Singapore eased 3.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019 over the previous three months - a bigger drop compared with the 0.6 per cent fall in the third quarter of 2019, figures released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) showed on Thursday. For the whole of 2019, the rental index slipped 3.1 per cent - contrasting with the increase of 7.4 per...

Rents of retail space in Singapore's central region rose 2.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019 over the previous three months, following the same rate of increase in the third quarter of 2019, according to data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Thursday. For the whole of 2019, the retail rental index rose 2.9 per cent, contrasting with the 1 per cent drop in 2018. URA's...

Over the last nine years as the Jurong Lake area was being rejuvenated, small business owners started noticing an uptick in sales. This was because more residents were choosing to spend their time in the area on weekends instead of travelling to other estates, said Jurong Town Centre Merchant Association chairman Tan Kah Ann. The addition of a children's playground and a green roof pavilion at J...

Eagle Hospitality Trust's (EHT) sponsor is working on a 30-year plan to preserve and improve the trust's Queen Mary floating hotel docked in Long Beach, California. Urban Commons (UC), which operates the historic ship, announced this in a statement released to Singapore media on Monday, although it did not disclose when the plan will be published. The preservation blueprint will be accessible to the...

THE offer price for UK-focused Elite Commercial Reit's proposed Singapore initial public offering (IPO) has been set at £0.68 per unit. This will raise around £119.5 million (S$209.3 million) to £131.2 million, based on a total offering size of 175.7 million to 192.9 million units, according to a term sheet on Monday seen by The Business Times. The IPO's Singapore public offer will run from Jan 28...

Capitaland's wholly-owned lodging business unit, The Ascott, has opened a serviced residence in Osaka, Japan. The new property, Citadines Namba Osaka, offers 313 units with varied apartment types. It sits in Osaka's popular entertainment and shipping district, and is surrounded by commercial buildings, Ascott said in a media statement on Monday. It houses studio apartment, studio executive apartments...

ARA US Hospitality Trust (ARA H-Trust) has completed the acquisition of three US hotels for US$84 million, its managers said in a bourse filing on Monday. The freehold properties are AC by Marriott Raleigh North Hills in North Carolina, as well as Courtyard San Antonio and Residence Inn San Antonio both in The Rim shopping district in Texas. Parties agreed on a final price of US$84 million, which is...

The 50-hectare Punggol Digital District is on track for completion from 2023, with the first phase of a key feature - a central platform that will collect real-time data from the district - now completed. "Both the physical and digital development of the Punggol Digital District are on track - with the groundbreaking of the first phase of the development as well as the ongoing development of the open...

Two years ago, Mr Seah Liang Chiang thought of building his own tiny house in Johor. On Friday (Jan 17), that DIY weekend retreat project turned into a business. Mr Seah has launched Singapore's first hotel made using shipping containers. For S$150 to S$200 a night - depending on whether it is peak or off-season - up to four guests can stay in one of two cabins in one-north. Mr Seah said he...

Punggol will serve as a testbed for new smart concepts progressively from 2023 in the areas of living, working and service delivery, said a joint statement from JTC and the Prime Minister's Office's Smart Nation and Digital Government Office on Friday. The Punggol Digital District (PDD), which is part of Punggol town, will house 210,000 square metres of business park and mixed-use spaces available from...