On Oct 7, Singapore Exchange-listed property group OUE announced that it had signed an agreement with Oakwood Asia Pacific to manage the new Oakwood Premier branded serviced residences in OUE Downtown, its mixeduse development on Shenton Way in the CBD.
Refurbishments at OUE Downtown are scheduled to be completed by year-end. The 268-unit Oakwood Premier will comprise a mix of studios and one- and two-bedroom apartments. Most of the units (82%) are studios and one-bedroom apartments measuring 28 to 32 sqm and 30 to 58 sqm respectively. There are 47 two-bedroom apartments measuring 70 to 98 sqm.
OUE Downtown is a refurbishment of the former DBS Towers One and Two, two office blocks linked by a street-level podium, which OUE had purchased for $870.5 million in August 2010. “We’ve always wanted to turn OUE Downtown into a destination,” says Thio Gim Hock, OUE CEO/managing director. “We thought we could create an all-encompassing worklive- play community. We have also noticed that there are few shopping malls and supermarkets for residents in the CBD.”
The new exterior of OUE Downtown after a $30 million facelift
OUE’s Thio and Oakwood Asia Pacific’s Schreiber at the signing ceremony
OUE decided to take advantage of the 262m covered podium linking the two towers and transform it into a retail mall with the longest frontage on Shenton Way, says Thio. The new mall is aptly named Downtown Gallery.
This is similar to OUE’s Mandarin Gallery with its 152m frontage on prime Orchard Road. The mall opened in 2010 and was carved out from the hotel and retail podium space of the 1,077-room Mandarin Orchard Singapore, following a $200 million refurbishment. Mandarin Gallery is a shopping mall with 100 stores and a net lettable area of 125,293 sq ft.
Artist’s impression of the lobby and reception of the new Oakwood Premier OUE Singapore
One of the bedrooms of a serviced residence at Oakwood Premier OUE Singapore
OUE is spending $30 million to transform the façade of the former DBS towers into OUE Downtown. At 50 storeys, OUE Downtown 1 (formerly DBS Tower One) was considered the tallest building in Singapore when it was built in 1975. The higher floors of OUE Downtown 1 have been retained as premium offices, whereas the offices in the lower zone are being converted into Oakwood Premier. The second tower, the 37-storey OUE Downtown 2 (formerly DBS Tower Two), will remain a premium office block and is almost fully leased, says Thio.
Oakwood Premier marks the debut of the hospitality group’s luxury tier in Singapore. However, it is the group’s second property in the city-state. The first is the 98-unit Oakwood Studios Singapore at 18 Mount Elizabeth, just off Orchard Road, which is scheduled to open by year-end, according to Dean Schreiber, managing director of Oakwood Asia Pacific. This year also sees the group opening its 10th property in Tokyo, its eighth in China and its first in Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City.
According to Thio, there is a shortage of serviced apartments in Singapore’s CBD. The first serviced residences in the CBD was the 146-unit Ascott Raffles Place, which opened in 2008. Ascott Raffles Place was a conversion of the former Asia Insurance Building, a historic tower built in 1955. URA has gazetted it for conservation.
“The only serviced residences downtown is always full,” says OUE’s Thio. “We felt that there was room for more, and we decided to convert one of the office towers into serviced apartments.” The Oakwood Premier at OUE Downtown is expected to open in mid-2017.
This article appeared in The Edge Property Pullout, Issue 750 (Oct 17, 2016) of The Edge Singapore.