The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) has awarded the tender for a site at 175A Chin Swee Road for use as a boutique business hotel to Vita Holdings unit Whitehouse Holdings. The rental price is $82,178 a month.
Vita will invest $6 million to refurbish the 12 storey building - previously Pearl’s Hill Primary School - into a 130-room hotel and is slated to open by the end of this year. The state property has an estimated land area of 10,500 sq m and gross floor area of 5,800 sq m and is the first one tenanted out by SLA for niche use as a mid-tier hotel.
The site is just three minutes from the centre of the central business district and will be well-situated as a business hotel. The lease is for an initial term of three years and is renewable on terms up till 2016.
Vita will finance the investment through a combination of internal funds and bank borrowings. The investment is not expected to have any significant impact on the group’s financials in the current financial year.
SLA said the winning bid was selected based on several factors including tender price, concepts, proposed uses, track record and the financial health of the company submitting the bid. Whitehouse Holdings’ tender price was the highest, beating five other tenderers, including East Lodge Management - whose bid it easily topped by at least $10,000 - Bescorp Investments, Club Panoly Holdings, Ideal Accommodation and Jian Yu Construction.
This will be Vita’s first hotel property. Executive chairman Christine Sim was upbeat on the prospects for the business. ‘Our move in this business direction is timely, given the increasing overseas traveller arrivals and the changing needs of frequent business travellers,’ she said.
The new property will increase Vita’s current portfolio to 13 properties.
Source: The Business Times, 01 March 2007
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