ION Orchard to open its doors to public on Tuesday
By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 20 July 2009 1958 hrs

SINGAPORE: ION Orchard will open its doors on Tuesday in its soft launch, with over 70 per cent of the shops ready for business.

It is the second major mall to open along the prime Orchard Road shopping strip in a decade, with 96% of its space leased.

After two and a half years, and more than S$2 billion in investment and construction costs, the eight-storey mall with a retail mix of established brands, flagship stores and new-to-market shops is ready for business.

In order to incentivise the tenants to open by Tuesday, the developers gave them a 30 per cent rental rebate until end-October. And for those who could not open by Tuesday, they received a smaller tiered rebate.

But can the new mall put the sparkle back into Singapore's lacklustre retail scene?

Latest figures showed that May retail sales rose marginally by 0.8 per cent compared to April, after two consecutive month-on-month declines. The mall's developer, Orchard Turn Developments, is bullish about prospects.

Soon Su Lin, chief executive, Orchard Turn Developments, said: "The property market is cyclical. We believe this is a long term investment for us and the tenants have full confidence that the market will turn around. We have an unmatched location on top of the MRT station, stunning architectural design and the tenant mix is very interesting."

Another thing it is banking on is the 200,000 daily footfall along Orchard Road. But with more than 20 per cent of Singapore's retail space concentrated along this prime shopping belt, competition will be tough.

When asked if it will offer more help to tenants, the developer said it will keep a close eye on the bottomline.

Soon said: "We believe in the relationship as a partnership and we will monitor their sales and we'll work with them. Under our contract, our rental structure is such that we are paid a base rental or a percentage of turnover, whichever is higher."

ION will officially open in October, when it aims to have more than 90 per cent of shops open.

Meanwhile, Orchard Residences, which is part of the development, is 84 per cent sold and should be ready by the middle of 2010.

- CNA/yt