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Mall to open despite building buzz all round
Straits Times, The (Singapore)
Home
February 6, 2007
Author: Marcel Lee Pereira
THE rebuilt Leisure Park Kallang will open its doors this year, even as its surroundings turn into a massive construction site.
The now six-storey mall is in the final stages of its one-and-a-half-year $70 million redevelopment, and will open sometime in September.
Its neighbour, Kallang Theatre, will close on March 31. The authorities are considering what the building will be used for, pending the site's redevelopment.
Meanwhile, construction work will be going on in the area for the next three to four years, as the National Stadium makes way later this year for a new Sports Hub and an MRT Circle Line station takes shape.
Leisure Park Kallang's owner and developer, Jack Investment, the same company that won a tender for an urban entertainment centre in Bugis in 2005, is confident of bringing in the crowds.
It expects over 100 retailers in the mall when it opens.
The anchor tenants include the famous Kallang Bowl, which will reopen with 22 lanes, together with a 10,500 sq ft ice-skating rink and an 8,000 sq ft foodcourt.
Already, more than half the mall's 210,000 sq ft has been taken up, with retailers paying about $12 to $20 per sq ft in rent, slightly higher than what was charged before the revamp, but lower than the $15 to $30 per sq ft charged in suburban malls.
It is being touted as an entertainment and retail destination, with 40 per cent of the mall set aside for retail, compared to about 15 per cent previously.
There will also be a six-hall cineplex, an amusement arcade, a 20,000 sq ft Shop N Save supermarket, and four large atriums. Diners can enjoy alfresco meals on rooftop pavilions.
The revamp is its second since Jack Investment bought over the site in 1989.
The company will operate the bowling alley and the ice-skating rink, which can also be used for skating competitions and training, and will be the largest rink in Singapore.
Even before the Sports Hub is up in 2011, it will have the company of two other neighbouring facilities, the Singapore Indoor Stadium and the Oasis complex.
Jack Investment's business development manager Han Minli pointed out that the old Leisure Park was doing well until construction on the Circle Line started a few years ago, and most operators stayed until the last day.
Some of the previous tenants are keen on returning, she added, but it is likely that with its family focus, the nightclub popular in the past will not be allowed back.
'We are capitalising on the fact that there is a lack of shopping malls within the east area,' said Ms Han.
Copyright, 2007, Singapore Press Holdings Limited
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Singapore to have two more rinks by 2009
Straits Times, The (Singapore)
Sports
June 7, 2007
Author: Hoe Pei Shan
SINGAPORE will boast three ice-skating rinks by 2009.
Two new rinks will be added to the the current one - Fuji Ice Palace, in Jurong.
One will be within the rebuilt Leisure Park Kallang, which is owned and developed by Jack Investment. It will be ready in September.
The other will be part of the integrated resort, Marina Bay Sands. It is scheduled for completion in 2009.
Said Sonja Chong, president of the Singapore Ice Skating Association: 'We are looking forward to the opening of the two new rinks, as they will help introduce the sport to the masses and raise its profile.'
But size matters. For unless the Republic has an Olympic-sized rink, Singapore's skaters cannot compete in any International Skating Union-sanctioned events.
These include the Asian Winter Games, Asian Novice Championships, World Championships, World Juniors and the Winter Olympics.
A pre-requisite for ISU membership is to have an Olympic-sized rink, which is 30m by 60m (1,800 sq m).
Fuji Ice Palace, set up in 1989, has a rink measuring only 960 sq m.
The reasons for the smaller rink are space constraints and cost.
An Olympic-sized rink costs about $4 million, or double the estimated $2 million for Fuji Ice Palace.
These were considerations in building the two new rinks.
The 975.5 sq m Kallang rink will be only slightly bigger than the Fuji Ice Palace rink. The complex also includes the Kallang Bowl, which will re-open with 22 lanes.
However, the size of Marina Bay Sands' rink has yet to be confirmed, and that may provide hope for Singapore's Olympic aspirations, according to Chong.
'Why isn't there an Olympic-sized rink in Singapore already? Pure and simple - the lack of vision,' she said
'If there are any private developers, including those of Marina Bay Sands, willing to build an Olympic-sized rink, we would be more than happy to work with them, as we are pushing for one.'
The new rinks will help ease crowding at the Fuji Ice Palace, where national skaters have to contend with ice hockey players and the public for time on the ice.
Participation at last week's 7th Inter-school Ice-Skating Competition gave an indication of the growth in the sport's popularity.
The competition saw 260 students from 65 schools taking part, up from 63 students from 21 schools in 2001.
But, without an Olympic-sized rink, Olympic hopefuls like Alexandria Wong - who won five golds, two silvers and a bronze at the meet - will not get the chance to live their dreams.
Said the 13-year-old three-time national champion: 'Skating in a smaller rink is dangerous because there isn't enough space to do a proper run-up before executing double jumps.
'Everyone dreams of the Olympics, but without a full-sized rink, dreams will just remain dreams.'
Copyright, 2007, Singapore Press Holdings Limited
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Don't really like kbox...
Seems like many shops not open yet....? The real competition would start only when most shops are available and see how the response's like... But still....
Currently there're much still rather new choices and hot spots nearer to town... This new place might have to perform doubly hard to really attracts a crowd?
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Go any mall also the same. Same shops same
experience. 
