SINGAPORE: Bugis Village and Bugis Street may soon get a facelift.
“Instagrammable” container boxes, a day-to-night market, a retail incubator, shared economy spaces and a new link bridge to connect Bugis Street to Bugis+ are some of the plans CapitaLand has in mind to revamp the area, the company said in a news release on Thursday (Jan 16).
The ‘Bugis Box’, one of the proposed concept in the integrated Bugis Village and Bugis Street. (Image: CapitaLand)
The plans come as CapitaLand announced that it has won a three-year tender for the integrated management of Bugis Village and Bugis Street.
ENHANCING THE STREET MARKET CONCEPT
To enhance the connectivity of Bugis Village and Bugis Street, CapitaLand is exploring a new link bridge connecting Bugis Street to Bugis+ to provide visitors with seamless sheltered access from Bugis MRT station.
Plans are also being explored for the integrated Bugis Village and Bugis Street to house retail concepts, including a day-to-night market, a retail incubator and shared economy spaces such as coliving and coworking areas.
A section of the revamped Bugis Village and Bugis Street will be turned into a hub offering established brands and new entrants a retail incubator space to innovate new ways of creating curated brand experiences or pilot new concepts.
A section of the revamped Bugis Village and Bugis Street will be turned into a hub converging experiential retail, social experimentation and local entrepreneurship. (Image: CapitaLand)
The company also wants to introduce a series of loose and colourful container boxes with open display areas.
“This is a modern interpretation of street markets where tourists and shoppers enjoy memorable encounters with trendy Instagrammable bites, quirky gifts and trending fashion accessories,” CapitaLand said.
The company added that homegrown heritage brands will be invited to launch experiential concept stores and cuisine unique to Bugis.
There are also plans for an area for food lovers and tourists to savour Singaporean and Southeast Asian hawker food. Diners will be able to try their hands at making some dishes or purchase Singaporean food packs such as laksa paste or bak kut teh soup.
ECLECTIC OLD-WORLD CHARM
Mr Chris Chong, managing director for retail at CapitaLand Singapore, said that the revamped integrated Bugis Village and Bugis Street will cater to the creative community in Bugis and shoppers who are keen to experience the “eclectic Bugis old-world charm adapted for the new era”.
CapitaLand’s plans for the area are subject to change and pending authority approval.
The tender won by CapitaLand was awarded by Singapore Land Authority, Singapore Tourism Board and Urban Redevelopment Authority.
It has an initial tenancy term of three years, effective Apr 1, with the option for renewal for a further two tenancy terms of three years each.
Existing tenants at Bugis Village and Bugis Street may continue business operations under CapitaLand for a year at the prevailing rent, until Mar 31, 2021.
The revamped Bugis Village and Bugis Street project has a proposed retail net lettable area (NLA) of about 195,000 sq ft.
