SINGAPORE: Following the S$13 million makeover of Anchorpoint Shopping Centre, Frasers Centrepoint Trust plans to turn its attention to other suburban malls under its stable.

Anchorpoint's new look appears to be getting the thumbs up from retailers.

Lee Hsien Yang, chairman of Fraser & Neave, said: "Anchorpoint used to be occupied by furniture shops, but I think we felt there was a niche in the market for this kind of (outlet mall) concept, so we mixed it with food and beverage. We think people will come... we have some interesting restaurants here."

Rents have gone up by 40 percent following the makeover to as much as S$7.50 per square foot.

Since refurbishments were completed in March this year, the mall has seen an increase of almost 20 percent in shopper traffic. Frasers expects this to increase substantially going forward.

Frasers' next step is a near S$40 million expansion of Northpoint, which is due to be completed in mid-2009. This will be followed by works on Yew Tee Mall, which comes under its wing next year, and Bedok Mall by 2011.

The REIT said it is continuing to look for overseas potential.

Christopher Tang, CEO of Frasers Centrepoint Trust, said: "We are looking into the emerging market of Vietnam. We are looking at some of the malls there and other than that, we already have two malls in China that are under development. We will be launching a smaller suburban mall in Australia soon."

Despite the anticipated global economic slowdown, Frasers said it remains bullish about Singapore's retail and urban mall sector.

The latest numbers showed that retail sales rose by a better-than-expected 5.6 percent in March, compared to a year ago.


- CNA/so