State Properties Reimagined Co Living Pop Event Venues And Social Impact Hubs
The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) has been expanding the uses of its properties, launching them for tender to a diverse range of stakeholders in the past year. These new uses include experiential retail concepts, luxury brand private events, inter-generational co-living apartments, and social impact hubs.
According to Carrie Wong, director of business planning and development at SLA, this expansion of uses is in response to the growing demand for space from various public and private stakeholders and community groups. It also aligns with the government’s long-term social and urban planning initiatives.
SLA manages around 2,600 state-owned properties and 11,000 hectares of state land, including colonial-era black-and-white bungalows, heritage terrace houses, walk-up apartments, shophouses, disused schools, former army camps, and government buildings. These properties are highly sought after and include prime residential neighborhoods, Good Class Bungalow areas, and commercial districts.
The custodians of Singapore’s collection of about 600 colonial-era black-and-white bungalows on prime land, SLA, have been managing a variety of properties, including colonial-era black-and-white bungalows, heritage terrace houses, walk-up apartments like Chip Bee Gardens in Holland Village, shophouses, disused schools, former army camps like Tanglin Village on Dempsey Hill, government buildings such as Old Kallang Airport and the former Command House at Kheam Hock Road.
SLA is best known for managing Singapore’s collection of about 600 colonial-era black-and-white bungalows spread across prime residential neighborhoods and Good Class Bungalow areas. These are sought after by high-net-worth individuals, including senior expatriate corporate executives, diplomats, and even ministers.
Last month, a two-storey black-and-white bungalow at 18 Ridley Park secured a two-year tenancy at a monthly rental rate of $30,054, and three other black-and-white bungalows at 16 Kay Siang Road and 11 Orange Grove Road were also put up for tender. These properties are leased for non-residential purposes, including childcare centers, restaurants, lifestyle and fashion establishments, and family offices.
SLA also partners with other government agencies in some tenders. A recent example is the tender for a trio of black-and-white bungalows at 31, 31A, and 33 Scotts Road, launched in collaboration with the Singapore Tourism Board to attract creative lifestyle uses such as experiential retail, F&B, wellness, or beauty concepts.
SLA has proactively approached upmarket lifestyle fashion and retail brands for placemaking efforts such as pop-up events and experiences, such as Eurokars Auto’s private soiree, “7 Senses,” to unveil its latest line of BMW cars at a black-and-white bungalow at 7 Adam Park.
The number of social entities repurposing state properties for emerging social and community uses has also increased by 50% since 2020. For example, the former Elections Department building at 11 Prinsep Link will be a shared space for non-profit organizations and social enterprises. Additionally, SLA has collaborated with the National Arts Council (NAC) to launch a tender for a row of five restored heritage properties at 52 to 56 Kampong Java Road in Little India. This initiative marks the first time a state property will be leased as an “arts sandbox” or experimental space for the arts.
Some sites in SLA’s portfolio will eventually be slated for development under the URA Master Plan. In the meantime, these properties can be leased for adaptive reuse, such as co-living. Seven sites have been launched for tender or awarded for use as co-living spaces. These include Coliwoo Keppel at 1557 Keppel Road, Habyt Cantonment (previously known as Hmlet Cantonment), the former Bukit Timah Fire Station, a row of 18 two-storey buildings at 79-95 Hindoo Road leased to co-living operator Cove and Eco-Energy and 26 Evans Road, which will be transformed into an upmarket co-living space by Cover Projects.
A new development, Norwood Grand, is underway at Champions Way by City Developments Limited (CDL). The company secured the winning bid of $294.889 million for the site’s prime location in Woodlands, equating to a land rate of $904 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr). This outbid the next highest offer by 8.3%, which was $272.26 million from the joint venture of Hong Leong Group and Mitsui Fudosan, deemed as TID, with a price of $835 psf ppr. With the capacity to hold 350 units, the Norwood Grand site attracted a total of six bids. Visit Norwood Grand’s official website for more information.
Two other state properties were recently put up for tender for co-living use, including a row of nine 2-storey shophouses at 15-31 Hindoo Road and a senior co-living concept at 98 Henderson Road. These initiatives aim to provide alternative housing options for Singaporeans while cultivating a strong inter-generational community within established neighborhoods.
As demand for diverse uses of state-owned properties continues to grow, SLA will continue to proactively identify social and real estate market trends and seek opportunities to enhance and maximize the utilization of these assets through placemaking.