The rejuvenation will see an increase of apartment, working population, and new tourism elements, which will benefit VivoCity, the closest large retail mall, currently owned by Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT).

DBS Group Research expects the government’s efforts to rejuvenate the Greater Southern Waterfront (GSW) area to offer major opportunities for property developers, with Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT) emerging as a key beneficiary of such moves.

This comes as the trust owns VivoCity, which will likely be the “bedrock of the rejuvenation”, reported The Straits Times.

Other possible beneficiaries include Alexandra Technopark owner, Frasers Commercial Trust, Genting Singapore and Keppel Corporation, said analysts Ho Pei Hwa and Derek Tan.

The ambitious rejuvenation of the waterfront area will be set in motion with PSA city terminal’s relocation to Tuas from 2027.

Spanning about 30km of the southern coastline, the GSW area features around 2,000ha of land, which is six times the size of Marina Bay.

“This offers significant opportunities for developers… starting with up to potentially 9,000 new residential development homes (public and private) at the site currently occupied by Keppel Club, on which there is a remaining two-year land lease,” highlighted the report.

“VivoCity, the closest large retail mall, will be the bedrock of the rejuvenation, in our view…We believe there will be greater benefits to the mall over time with the expected increase in apartments, working population and new tourism elements added.”

The relocation of the terminal at Pulau Brani has also enabled work to start the site’s transformation into an island of recreation.

“Plans for a Downtown South resort mirroring NTUC’s Downtown East resort will, over time, bring more holiday-goers and families to the vicinity, driving visits to both Sentosa and VivoCity,” said the analysts.

Although the development may “take time to take shape, the government will also look to add more office space within the GSW to supplement the growth of the population and bring more people to work”.

“This will inevitably be positive for MCT, which has office properties in the Alexandra Precinct (Mapletree Business City I, PSA Building) and HarbourFront (Bank of America Merrill Lynch HarbourFront building), and will, over time, benefit from a wider pool of office tenants looking to relocate there.”

Source: 21 Aug 2019, CommercialGuru