Smith Street to be rejuvenated with more curated offerings

Plan to inject more vibrancy to the area with engaging and diverse activities

- Chin Soo Fang

Visitors to Chinatown in the next few years can look forward to more curated offerings and experiences for both locals and tourists with the rejuvenation of Smith Street.

There will be more engaging and community experiential programmes, and diverse offerings such as creative lifestyle, retail as well as co-living and co-working concepts, while the area's cultural and architectural heritage will be preserved and celebrated.

On Aug 14, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), Urban Redevelopment Authority and Singapore Tourism Board (STB) awarded to Chinatown Business Association (CBA) the tender to refurbish and transform the shophouses from 11 to 37 Smith Street and the adjacent pedestrian mall on state land. SLA announced this on its Facebook page on the same day.

The project has a total land area of 34,076 sq ft and an estimated gross floor area of 33,081 sq ft. CBA will be offered an upfront tenure of five years, renewable for a second term of four years, to facilitate better resource planning.

The association told The Straits Times that details of the new offerings will be announced later.

The tender, which was launched on Nov 30, 2023, and closed on March 20, attracted five bidders, including CBA which submitted the winning bid of $123,000.

Noontalk Media submitted the highest bid of $180,000. The other bids were $108,174 from Benlo Ventures, $68,177 from ABR Holdings and $53,000 from IGYM Fitness.