Mainboard-listed property development and hospitality group Amara Holdings recently had a soft opening of Amara Signature Shanghai. The hotel is the first under Amara Signature, the group’s new luxury brand, and the first five-star hotel located on Changshou Road in Puxi, the historic centre and commercial zone of Shanghai, says Amara. It is expected to be fully open in 2Q2018.
Amara Signature Shanghai is located at the intersection of Changshou Road, one of the arteries in Shanghai’s west downtown area, and Jiaozhou Road. The nearest metro station — Changshou Road station — is a three-minute walk away and Shanghai’s two airports, Hongqiao International Airport and Pudong International Airport, can be reached by car in 30 and 50 minutes, respectively.
The hotel comprises a total of 343 rooms and suites located from the seventh to 30th floors with floor-to-ceiling windows that offer views of the city. There are also 1,100 sq m of meeting facilities, comprising a grand ballroom and 10 multipurpose function rooms.
With the Amara Signature brand, the group hopes to target a new generation of travellers by offering a seamless experience of stylish design, world-class service and state-of-the-art facilities and amenities. There are plans for a series of events to be hosted at the hotel to facilitate interaction and collaboration between the hotel guests and the local business community.
Amara Signature Shanghai is the first hotel under Amara Holdings’ new luxury brand
Beside the hotel is 100 AM Shanghai, a 10,500 sq m mixed-use complex comprising a Grade A office tower and a retail mall. Chinese co-working space operator Kr Space has signed a 10-year lease for the entire 4,000 sq m of space in the office tower. Kr Space is a spin-off from Alibaba-backed technology platform 36Kr and operates 30 co-working spaces across eight Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Suzhou. The mall is expected to have its soft opening in 2H2018, according to Amara, and will house a cinema as well as a curated selection of F&B outlets.
Shanghai is an ideal location for Amara, says Albert Teo, CEO of Amara, as it is a leading science and technology innovation centre on the global stage. The Chinese government’s plan to accelerate the private sector’s growth as a key economic pillar also “bodes well for the hospitality, office and retail sectors”, he adds.
“We are excited to unveil our first luxury hotel brand [in Shanghai],” says Teo. “This is an important milestone as we continue to look for opportunities to expand outside of Singapore.”