Hougang Mall is more than 98 per cent let. Over 40 per cent of its units are going to tenants that have never traded there before.
Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT), which holds nine heartland malls worth $8.4 billion, said on July 27 that the second phase of the Hougang Mall revamp is on track to finish in September. Its update on third-quarter results, for the period ended June 30, showed a 99.6 per cent occupancy rate across its malls for April to June, with higher shopper traffic than a year earlier.
The backdrop is a squeeze. Limited retail space is pushing rents up and tenant sales are slowing, so heartland malls are reworking their tenant mix to keep residents coming back.
Hougang Mall
FairPrice Finest is due to open on Aug 1, and Decathlon is also coming. An expanded library is expected in the first half of 2027. FCT said the mall’s toilets have been renovated and its lift lobbies modernised.
NEX
Work at NEX in Serangoon began in May, in the space once occupied by Isetan, and is on schedule. FCT is spending $90 million, which should add 44,000 sq ft of lettable space by the fourth quarter of 2028. About 87 per cent of the first-phase space is pre-leased, and brands new to the mall make up 73 per cent of what is committed.
The focus is children and education. Skypark by Kitztopia, Writers’ Guild and Toys ‘R’ Us outlets are on the way, and Heguru and Wang Learning Centre will return.
A new mall in Bedok
FCT also revealed plans for a mall at Bayshore Drive. It led a consortium that won a $2.1 billion tender for the mixed-use site a week before the update. FCT will own half of the commercial component, which is expected to cost about $613 million to develop. Part of that will come from the proposed $467 million sale of White Sands in Pasir Ris to Growth Capital, an entity linked to Jack Investment, headed by businessman Han Chee Juan.
The mall will have 160,000 to 180,000 sq ft of lettable space and serve about 10,000 new homes. It will connect directly to Bedok South MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line and to a new bus interchange. FCT expects it to open by the end of 2030. Bedok has less retail space per resident than the national average, the trust said.
