Raffles City

Coordinates: 1°17′37″N 103°51′11″E / 1.29361°N 103.85306°E / 1.29361; 103.85306

Raffles City
Alternative names Raffles International Centre (initial name)
General information
Status Occupied
Type Office
hotel
shopping complex
Architectural style High-rise
Location City Hall, Downtown Core, Singapore
Owner CapitaCommercial Trust
CapitaMall Trust
Management CapitaLand
Height
Roof 158 metres (518 ft) (office)
Technical details
Floor count 7 (retail)
42 (office)
Floor area 421,720 square feet (39,179 m2) (retail)
380,900 square feet (35,390 m2) (office)
Design and construction
Architect I. M. Pei
Architects 61
Developer Tincel Properties
Main contractor SsangYong Group
Website
Raffles City

Raffles City (Chinese: 来福士城, before 2007: 莱佛士城) is a large complex located in the Civic District within the Downtown Core of the city-state of Singapore. Occupying an entire city block bounded by Stamford Road, Beach Road, Bras Basah Road and North Bridge Road, it houses two hotels and an office tower over a podium which contains a shopping complex and a convention centre. The mall is managed by CapitaCommercial Trust and CapitaMall Trust.

The embassy of Hungary is located on the 29th floor of the Raffles City Tower, which also houses the delegation office of the European Union.

History

Groundbreaking on the site took place on 14 August 1980 and officially opened to the public on 3 October 1986. The complex was designed by I. M. Pei in one of his earliest works in the city state. Built on the former site of Raffles Institution, the first school in Singapore, and located beside the historic Raffles Hotel, its aluminium-finish and simple geometric designs gave a stark, modernist contrast to Victorian architecture and classical architecture which used to characterise architecture in that district. The design includes the one-time world's tallest hotel and currently the world's fourteenth tallest hotel, the 73-storey Swissôtel The Stamford, as well as a 26 storey high-end twin-tower hotel, the Fairmont Singapore. The three blocks are complemented by the rectangular 42-storey Raffles City Tower, an office block.

Renovations

In the 1990s the shopping complex went under a major renovation, with a different look. In June 2005, the management announced that the basement section of the complex will be expanded, with 30 to 50 more shops and was completed in July 2006 with MPH Bookstores, renowned food and beverage outlets and numerous fashion shops occupying the extension. Gloria Jean's Coffees has also made a return to the country after exiting the country a few years ago. The complex is directly connected to City Hall MRT station by escalators from the building entrance and to Esplanade MRT station from Basement 2.

Rebranding

On 1 January 2002, the two hotels were rebranded as the Swissôtel The Stamford and Raffles The Plaza (now Fairmont Singapore]) when FRHI Hotels & Resorts took over the hotels' management.

CapitaLand REITs takeover

On 19 March 2006, CapitaLand's real estate investment trust (REIT), CapitaCommercial Trust and CapitaMall Trust jointly acquired the development from Raffles Holdings for S$2.09 billion. The former will take up a 60 percent stake in the complex and the latter taking the remainder 40 percent.[1] The trusts' shareholders approved of the purchase of the complex in July 2006. The deal has been completed in August 2006 and the complex is owned by the two trusts.

Expansion

On 20 August 2006, the new owners announced their plans to expand the retail space between 150,000 and 200,000 sq ft (19,000 m2) from its current 356,000 sq ft (33,100 m2), by using the space on the carpark floors on basements two and three. The two CapitaLand property trusts will spend S$86 million on the expansion. An underground link linking Esplanade and City Hall MRT stations opened on 15 July 2010.[2]

Tenants

Raffles City has several anchor tenants, with the Dairy Farm Group having a higher end supermarket, Jason's Market Place and a Guardian pharmacy, both located in the basement. A renowned local department store, Robinsons, together with Marks & Spencer has opened since 2001, when Sogo vacated the space and the supermarket (now occupied by Jason's) in 2000 after the company had financial problems.

Events

117 IOC Session, Singapore

The 117th IOC Session in Singapore, was held from 2 to 9 July 2005 at the Raffles City Convention Centre on the fourth floor. Security at the complex was extremely tight during the event. At the IOC Session, London was awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "CapitaLand REITs' S$2.1 Bln Purchase May Boost Scale". Bloomberg. 2006-03-20.
  2. ↑ Chan, Matthias (2006-08-21). "CMT, CCT profit to be lifted by up to 7% from Raffles City asset enhancement". Channel NewsAsia.
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