Katong Plaza, Novotel on Kitchener to make way for new hotels

Provisional planning approvals have been secured for properties that date back to 1981

- Ng Keng Gene

The Novotel Singapore on Kitchener hotel and Katong Plaza are set to be replaced by new hotels.

Both properties date back to around 1981, with the Kitchener Road hotel branded with different names along the way. They were in the past two years sold, and the new owners have recently secured at least provisional planning approvals from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

Worldwide Hotels subsidiary Midtown Development has permission to redevelop the Kitchener Road property into a hotel with 1,625 rooms and 1,214 sq m of retail space.

The hotel opened in 1981 as President Merlin Hotel – a part of the President Hotel and Shopping Complex that also included the President Shopping Centre which opened in 1970.

The hotel was later rebranded as New Park Hotel in 1990 after a $30 million facelift. In 2007, it became Parkroyal on Kitchener Road, while the shopping centre was demolished in 2017 to make way for Centrium Square.

In 2023, UOL sold Parkroyal on Kitchener Road for $525 million to Worldwide Hotels, a Singapore-based firm that owns chains such as Hotel 81 and Hotel Mi.