MCT – BT

ARC off to a good start with tenants

MAPLETREE Commercial Trust’s (MCT) up-and-coming Alexandra Retail Centre (ARC) has secured a portfolio of strong anchor tenants prior to its expected opening later this year.

Notably, NTUC FairPrice and McDonald’s are the two largest tenants signed on thus far and collectively occupy around 15 per cent of the mall’s total lettable area.

In terms of overall tenant-mix, ARC is expected to encompass a higher proportion of food-and-beverage (F&B) outlets as compared to most other malls.

In fact, as the development is intended to be a convenience mall mainly serving the office population in the Alexandra Precinct, F&B outlets have been designated to make up 30-40 per cent of ARC’s total tenant-mix with the remaining largely comprising a supermarket as well as lifestyle and service-type tenants, highlighted a spokesman for Mapletree Commercial Trust Management Ltd (MCTM).

In addition to McDonald’s, the retail centre – which is within walking distance of the newly-opened Labrador Park MRT Station – has also signed on F&B names such as BBQ Chicken, Spinelli’s and The Soup Spoon.

Education and enrichment centres catering to the residential population in the wider area such as Cristofori Music School and Berries World of Learning will also be part of the new mall, which has Watson’s and Unity signed up as well. ARC has concluded leases for around half of its lettable area so far.

Expected to open its doors to the public some time in December, the MCT mall is expected to be fully occupied by next July as it opens gradually over the course of the next few months.

‘We are opening the mall progressively so as to improve the connectivity of the precinct to and from the MRT station as well as to improve the provision of amenities to the precinct,’ said the MCTM spokesman.

Assuming things go according to plan and the mall is completed on schedule, ARC is expected to contribute positively to MCT’s topline and dividend per unit (DPU) in its upcoming fourth-quarter and next financial year results.