China Square Central, 18 Cross Street, Singapore
China Square Central, a retail and office development of approximately 550,000 sq. ft. in gross floor area is situated on the fringe of the Central Business District. China Square Central comprises conservation shophouses of rich heritage and a modern office building called Marsh & McLennan Centre.
The brief
Savills was appointed in 2009 to conduct a study on the retail & F&B mix at China Square Central and propose a repositioning for the development. Savills conducted a comparative analysis with similar developments and assessed the feasibility of transforming China Square Central to the owner’s vision of Xin Tian Di in Shanghai. Improvements to development were also proposed in the form of design elements, trade and tenant mix to enhance the attractiveness of the development to patrons and businesses.
The client
Unicorn Square Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of The Straits Trading Co. Ltd)
What the client said
“We are grateful for the consultancy service rendered by the Retail & Lifestyle team at Savills. Their recommendations were creative yet practical, reflecting a good understanding of our development and its unique character.”
Our solution
Savills proposed to expand the target audience to locals and tourists outside of the vicinity on the weekends instead of restricting to the office workers on the weekdays. Increasing the proportion of F&B trades and adding entertainment trades would increase the 24-7 appeal to the development. Cluster zoning was also proposed to enable easy identification of shops for patrons and strengthen China Square Central’s identity from the adjacent developments. A strong tenant mix with reputable players in their trade are essential to attract the crowd and other retailers.
How we added value
In addition to a revamped trade mix, Savills proposed design improvements to development that would strengthen the identity of China Square Central and making the development more attractive for retailers and patrons. Savills benchmarked the rents of similar and neighbouring developments to recommend a holistic rental and leasing strategy.
