Relax - Traders hotel tipped to rise on Phoenix site

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The new 512-room hotel that will rise on the former Hotel Phoenix and Specialists' Centre site on Orchard/Somerset roads will be managed by Shangri-La group under its Traders brand, BT understands.

This will be the second Traders hotel in Singapore, after the one at Cuscaden Road.

The hotel will be part of a 20-storey mixed development next to Somerset MRT Station that is slated for completion next year and which will also include a retail mall.

Orchard Gateway, as the project is named, is designed by Tange Associates. It is being developed by United Engineers, which in 2010 was appointed by OCBC to build the project through an arrangement that allows the bank to retain ownership of the prime Orchard Road property after the redevelopment is completed.

The project will be linked to an 11-storey office-retail development (to be named Orchard Gateway@Emerald) diagonally across Orchard Road on the former Orchard Emerald site which is being developed by OCBC's insurance arm, Great Eastern Life.

The link will be via a glass pedestrian bridge as well as an underpass. UE is project manager for the developments on both sites.

Each project will have an open plaza, which besides helping to draw shopper traffic, can be venues for busking, art performances and outdoor events.

Orchard Gateway @ Emerald will include a double-storey conservation house at the edge of the adjacent Emerald Hill Historic District.

Traders is the four-star brand of the Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts chain.

'Demand for hotels in the four-star and business segments will remain fairly resilient despite the global economic slowdown - compared with upscale/luxury hotels - as corporations and travellers become more cost-conscious,' said Cushman & Wakefield Singapore vice-chairman Donald Han.

Two Traders hotels in the Orchard Road area, albeit at different ends, are unlikely to cannibalise each other, he reckons. 'The existing Traders Hotel at Cuscaden Road has already built goodwill, while the new Traders hotel at the busy Orchard Road thoroughfare near Somerset MRT Station will provide a more visible frontage and exposure for the brand,' added Mr Han.

This article was first published in The Business Times.

Traders hotel tipped to rise on Phoenix site

By Kalpana Rashiwala, The Business Times | Fri, Jan 20 2012

The hotel will be part of a 20-storey mixed development next to Somerset MRT Station.

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hotel

building

orchard road