The Golden Bridge over Shenton Way in downtown Singapore which was supposed to be demolished to make way for new developments in the area has been given a new lease extension.
The 30-year lease for Golden Bridge expired in 2003.
Since then, pending final development plans for the area by Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and Land Transport Authority (LTA), the ex-lessee was given short extensions to continue his business operations.
Development plans were finalised in April this year and the ex-lessee was told to vacate the bridge.
The bridge was to be demolished and a new one constructed nearby.
However, the Singapore Land Authority has now decided to re-tender the lease of Golden Bridge for about three years.
Under the development plans, Golden Bridge is to be eventually demolished as nearby McCallum Street is extended to serve developments in the Marina Bay area and a new pedestrian bridge is built to replace Golden Bridge.
The new pedestrian bridge will provide a better connection between the redeveloped UIC building and DBS Tower 2.
In the interim, Golden Bridge will be retained for about three years as a pedestrian crossing with F&B and retail use.
A tender has been called to select an operator for Golden Bridge.
Interested parties are welcomed to participate in the tender and may refer to www.spio.sla.gov.sg for more information. All bids will be evaluated based on their merits.
SLP International executive director Nicholas Mak said: “After the bridge is renovated and ready for operation, I think the sub-tenants could possibly be looking at rentals between S$8-S$10 per square foot per month. This is bearing in mind that they can only be expecting weekday crowd, which means that on Saturday and Sunday, businesses will be very low or almost non-existent.”
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 5 Dec 2011