Getting new tenants not a problem

THE retail segment at Dempsey - long associated with furniture and antiques - will be retained, says Country City Investment, which now manages the part of Tanglin Village comprising Dempsey Hill and Dempsey Hill Green.

'We will keep the furniture outlets as most of the tenants - about 65 per cent - are staying back,' says Kee Luah, Country City Investment's marketing consultant.

'We'll have to find other retail tenants to replace those that have left, which we don't think will be a problem as the single-digit rental rate is very attractive.'

The tenant mix for blocks 13, 14, 15, 16 and 26 Dempsey Road, on a 20,000 sq m plot, will be split between 20 per cent F&B and 80 per cent retail, she says. 'We intend to keep the old world charm that people remember.'

According to earlier reports, Country City general manager Nicholas Ng said the company would spend $2 to $3 million redeveloping the blocks, which it won the right to manage last year.

Country City already manages a cluster of seven buildings on a one-hectare plot leased from the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), which it transformed into about 20 restaurants, cafes, delis and bars - grouped under Dempsey Hill - in 2007.

SLA has made significant improvements to the near-40 hectare Tanglin Village in the past three few years. The village was organised into three clusters - Dempsey, Minden and Loewen.

The Business Times