Big Box at Jurong East made a big hoo-ha when it first opened, what with it promising to be a one-stop, novel way to shop for furniture, electronics and whatnot all in one place.
Unfortunately, it died with a whimper.
Subsequently, it got a new life as a community care facility for Covid-19 cases but as time passes, the need for that, too, will cease.
So what else is new for Big Box? Is it fated to remain a closed, empty shell of its former glory?
Well, apparently not, at least not with what’s being planned for it.
Big Box in Jurong Will Be Redeveloped into Business Park
On 4 Dec 2020, it was announced that Big Box has been acquired by Perennial Real Estate for a whopping S$118 million.
As for what it’ll be used for? The developer says they’ve obtained the approval to turn it into a business park.
The former warehouse/shopping mall has a land area of 606,600 square feet and the developer will be investing S$70 million into redeveloping it into what they call Perennial Business City.
The property is expected to “complete progressively” from Q4 2021.
Getting It Up And Running
Perennial will be holding 51% stake in the business park while the remaining will be made up of investors such as HPRY Holdings.
The marketing and leasing of the space have been appointed under the charge of CBRE Singapore, a commercial real estate firm and will be looking for tenants from sectors like Infocomm technology (ICT), biomedical sciences, finance and consumer goods.
Meeting A Need For Business Parks
According to the CEO of Perennial Real Estate, Pua Seck Guan, the transaction, which is slated to be completed in mid-Feb 2021, will be a “milestone” for the company.
There is a “burgeoning demand for business parks”, and Perennial is “pleased” to have the chance to redevelop big box into the new Perennial Business City.
Big Box is located in the Jurong Lake District which is planned to have the second Central Business District (CBD) in Singapore.
When it was announced back in 2016, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) envisioned it to be “a new mixed-use business precinct, that will house the upcoming Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) terminus”.
Other than that, it was also announced in 2019 that part of the district will be converted into a shopping and entertainment district for tourists.
In other words, a second Orchard Road?
Here, you can read more about the plans URA have for the district here.
Who knows, maybe in 2025, Jurong won’t be regarded as the “ulu” part of Singapore anymore, eh?
Featured Image: Robert Ang / Shutterstock.com
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