Depot Lane industrial estate, warehouses to make way for housing

Area will be vacated by Q4; analyst says 7.3ha site can yield over 2,000 HDB flats

- Isabelle Liew and Savanna Tai

An industrial estate and a row of warehouses at Depot Lane in Bukit Merah will be vacated by the fourth quarter of 2025 to make way for housing.

JTC Corporation, which manages the industrial estate, said the plot will be returned to the state for future residential development, in response to queries from The Straits Times.

Under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's master plan, the Depot Lane industrial estate is part of a 7.3ha site zoned for residential use. Its plot ratio, which determines the intensity of the development, is

The industrial estate, consisting of about 240 units across eight blocks, was built in the 1970s. Six adjacent warehouses, which make up the rest of the plot, are owned by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA).

JTC said tenants were told about the redevelopment plans for the area in 2018 and were offered replacement factory spaces at JTC Space @ Ang Mo Kio or Bedok Food City.

Western food stall Original Botak Jones took to social media in April to announce the closure of its outlet in the Yue Hua coffee shop at Depot Lane on June 22 due to redevelopment of the area.

"We reopened this outlet during the most uncertain times — in 2021,lowed. It's been an incredible four-year journey," it said.

The coffee shop shuttered on June 23.