New Funan mall will have a GV cinema and arts theatre

A 380-seat theatre by local company Wi!d Rice, supermarket chain FairPrice Finest and a flagship store by local designer Carolyn Kan.

These are some of the latest anchor tenants at Funan, announced by its owner CapitaLand Mall Trust yesterday.

The mall, previously known for being a hub for IT products, will have an entire floor dedicated to technology.

Previous tenants such as Newstead Technologies will take up 15,000 sq ft of space with multiple concept stores, and AddOn Systems will set up a Lenovo flagship and Service Centre.

A platform for retail innovation: Inside the immersive virtual reality simulation studio in Funan’s experiential showsuite, (from left to right) Mr Jason Leow, CEO, CapitaLand Mall Asia; Mr Lim Ming Yan, President & Group CEO, CapitaLand Limited; Mr Wilson Tan, CEO, CapitaLand Mall Trust Management Limited; and Mr Tony Tan, Senior Vice President, CEO’s Office, CapitaLand Mall Asia; donned special goggles to navigate and explore Funan in a full-scale, computer-generated world.Photo: CapitaLand

The $560 million project, which will also consist of two office towers and 279 service apartments, will allocate 11,800 sq ft of “short-term and casual” space for designers and makers to conduct workshops and sell their crafts, offering leases as short as a few hours.

Cinema chain Golden Village and food court chain Kopitiam were previously announced as anchor operators.

The retail mall will have 200 shops over six storeys, and is targeted for completion in the fourth quarter of 2019.

At a media preview at their swanky show suite located at the junction of Hill Street and High Street yesterday, Mr Wilson Tan, CEO of Capitaland Mall Trust Management, told The New Paper: “This is an opportunity for Funan to rewrite the parameters, to redefine how a mall of the future will be.

Home of creative talents: W!ld Rice, Singapore’s leading professional theatre company, will build an intimate 380-seat theatre with an innovative thrust stage design at Funan. Occupying about 18,000 square feet, this will be Singapore’s first theatre venue located within a commercial complex that is designed, managed and programmed by a theatre group.Photo: CapitaLand

“Every time we look at an existing mall, we can only (change) small parts of it. The easy way out would be to create a ‘cookie-cutter’ mall, but we want to be a differentiated mall.”

There will also be a covered linkway connecting City Hall MRT station to the mall’s basement.

Mr Tan said they will be leveraging on technology to tackle the challenge of online retail.

For instance, customers can collect online purchases, as well as return them, at the mall.

A microcosm of Funan: The design of the showsuite is inspired by Funan’s design centrepiece Tree of Life (pictured), a wood-and-steel structure that houses a variety of open platforms and studios that promote new forms of retail, experimentation and social learning. *Photo: CapitaLand*

Retailers, too, agreed that a physical retail space is still important.

Ms Carolyn Kan, who is behind homegrown artisan jewellery brand Carrie K. and design collective Keepers, will be signing a three-year lease for a 2,600 sq ft space at the mall.

She said the store would allow her to interact and build a relationship with customers and fellow designers.

“You can do it online, but it is not personal. If someone is very passionate about something, it’s always great to be able to meet like-minded individuals,” she said.