Keong Saik
There used to be a time when creative industries( advertising firms, art galleries, independent small-scale jewellery stores, furniture stores, etc) looked towards shophouses as a mainstay of that independent, creative streak that they want to portray. Most were concentrated around the Kim Yam, Chinatown and Emerald Hill areas but increasingly, areas of disrepute (e.g. Keong Saik, are fast becoming popular with the entrance of anchor tenant-the uber-hip Hotel 1929, with vintage Louis Poulsen lamps, nouveau chic interiors and whimsically-designed rooms. A trip down Keong Saik itself spells like a walk down a surreal, Cocteau-like dreamworld. The journey starts with the impossibly hip, Schrager-inspired Hotel 1929. And then you get the ubiquitous middle aged men in their singlets sitting at their doors for some evening air and the occasional brothel suffused by red light from the main entrance.
Soon after the entrance of Hotel 1929, which opened to fantastic media coverage (restaurant Ember is always fully booked and it might be impossible to get tables for dinner without prior reservations), came 24(or was it 74? I can't really remember), a bar cum club with a swing as the main attraction. Patrons of the place around the Hungry Ghost festival will be treated to a large bonfire across the street, another delicious reminder of the juxtaposition of modern and traditional practices. And it seems that the flow of other stores, offering an interesting mix of products and services just isn't about to stop- a music provider company and a spa are amongst the other tenants coming up or already settled in the area. Rents are between $1-2/psf. Just down the street will be Mosque and Temple Street, overpopulated and becoming a tad too touristy, where rents are inflated.
There is something exciting about being the founder tenants of an area about to take off-to be in the developmental stage, before the mainstream discovers it. it is probably very similar to the evolution of the Mohamed sultan stretch of clubs and pubs-an instinctive move by ex-journalist Peter Wong, way before anybody's heard of the area. keong Saik looks set to become another Mohamed Sultan-with a greater diversity in tenant mix, and let's hope those red lights and the bonfires around hungry ghost enjoy a peaceful co-existence with the new breed of tenants.
taksu
A government initiative but before you turn up your nose at any premeditated, planned project, take a look a the interesting tenant mix for the flexible renovation approach with regards to rental space employed by the government appears to have worked.
previously anchored by the sistina group-they have 3 restaurants there(Michaelangelo's Original Sin, Sistina's and Veritas-which does not count as it is a wine shop), the list of tenants have expanded to include 4 boutique art galleries- taksu, sunjin, vermillion and studio 43 gallery. Also in the eclectic tenant mix would be cho lon, an interior decor company, da paolo gastronomia, a gourmet shop and Beam me Up Sporty, a fitness and nutrition service provider.
there is an interesting array of massage therapists, art galleries, furniture stores (found the barber chair I've been scouring for at cho lon), ad firms and even fund management companies at chip bee. the atmosphere is very 'start-up' ; the creative industries given a 'dot-com' twist.
with all the cynicism surrounding government-initiated 'creative' projects, the idea of workloft taking off is almost subversive. workloft@chipbee is evolving almost like a spontaneous project.
If you are looking for areas with lots of character and exciting development potential (which ultimately translates to cheap rent, lots of renovation work and the exciting experience of lending character and vibrance to an up and coming area) for commercial purposes, do contact me @67288614
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