Boutique Hotel @ Tiong Bahru in Singapore expected to open end 2006

Macau-based holding company, Hang Huo Enterprise Group Limited, and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) yesterday held a ground-breaking ceremony for Boutique Hotel @ Tiong Bahru, an innovative conversion of two blocks of Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) flats into a new hotel.

The two four-storey blocks comprise a total of 78 units of 3-room and 4-room flats. After the refurbishment, the new Boutique Hotel @ Tiong Bahru will provide 288 themed guest rooms, while preserving the distinctive façade of the building. The development is estimated to cost S$45 million and is targeted to be operational by the end of 2006.

“Boutique Hotel @ Tiong Bahru will boost the current accommodation mix in Singapore, and supply more rooms in the mid tier hotel category to meet the needs of Chinese visitors,” said Mr Lim Neo Chian, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive of the STB. “Located in Tiong Bahru, one of Singapore’s oldest and most charming neighbourhoods, it offers visitors a first-hand and uniquely Singapore experience of living in the heartlands.”

The Hang Huo Enterprise Group was successfully awarded a tender by the STB for a feasibility study on a proposed hotel in Tiong Bahru. The study included a technical investigation to assess the structural feasibility of refurbishing the two blocks of flats, as well as a commercial viability study for the proposed hotel. The studies showed that it was both technically and commercially viable to proceed with the development and the agreement to lease was signed on 14 September 2005.

With the Tourism 2015 plan, the STB aims to triple tourism receipts to S$30 billion and double visitor arrivals to 17 million by 2015. The demand for hotel rooms is also expected to increase to meet the anticipated growth in the tourism sector.

Hang Huo Enterprise Group is the first foreign investor from Macau to invest in Singapore’s hotel industry.

“The development of Boutique Hotel @ Tiong Bahru is very timely, as Hang Huo was looking for opportunities to expand our business beyond our areas of operation in North-east Asia,” said Mr Ngan In Leng, Chairman of Hang Huo Enterprise Group. “We hope that this project will create additional opportunities for us to work with the STB on other areas, as well as build up the two-way tourism linkages between Singapore, and Macau and China."

The Hang Huo Enterprise Group holds a diverse business portfolio, which includes interests in property investment and management, construction, agriculture, technology, the travel trade, hotel and food and beverage sectors.

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