CMT’s Jurong mall to get new ice-skating rink
By KALPANA RASHIWALA
CAPITAMALL TRUST (CMT) will replace the existing Fuji Ice Palace ice-skating rink at its Jurong Entertainment Centre (JEC) with a new Olympic-size rink – the first in Singapore.
Costing about $7-8 million, the new facility will be 30 by 60 metres, larger than the current rink which is 20 by 40 metres.
The new rink is part of $138.2 million of asset enhancement works proposed at JEC. All the works are slated for completion by Q4 2009. They are expected to increase net property income by $12.4 million per year, reflecting an ungeared return on investment of 9 per cent.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) last year granted CMT outline planning permission to raise JEC’s plot ratio from 1.85 to 3.0 for full commercial development. The approval effectively boosts JEC’s gross floor area (GFA) by over 62 per cent, from about 170,000 sq ft to 275,500 sq ft, and the net lettable area by over 89 per cent, from around 111,000 sq ft to 209,700 sq ft. A differential premium at $1,200 per square metre of additional GFA, payable to URA, has already been locked in.
Asset enhancement at JEC will comprise several initiatives. The six-screen cineplex on level 1 will be relocated to level 5, a newly created floor.
The current ice-skating rink on the third level will make way for the new facility, whose operator has yet to be finalised. A rooftop landscaped garden will be built on level 6.
Trust manager CapitaMall Trust Management Ltd (CMTML) said it expects the new skating rink will be flanked by food and beverage operators or restaurants on both sides, creating a unique dining experience.
The rink will not only give Singapore’s national skaters a place to train for International Skating Union-sanctioned events such as the Olympics and the World Championships, but will also be a crowd puller with students and budding athletes yearning to excel in the sport, CMTML said.
Source: Business Times
Filed under: About Singapore, Commercial, Property News
