FRASERS Centrepoint Trust has completed the first revamp of a multimillion-dollar plan to jazz up its malls.

Anchorpoint Shopping Centre was relaunched last Thursday after a $13 million makeover, setting the stage for similar transformations at Frasers' Northpoint and Causeway Point shopping centres.

The suburban mall in Alexandra Road used to house mainly furniture stores. The makeover, which took a year to complete, has turned it into an 'outlet mall' filled with food and beverage stalls, and shops selling year-round discounted fashion merchandise.

Anchorpoint opened for business in March, when the renovations ended - and the results so far have been impressive.

Average rents are now about $7.50 per sq ft (psf), up from $5.40 psf in late 2006, when the revamp plans commenced, said chief executive Christopher Tang.

Occupancy has also risen, from 92 per cent to 98 per cent, while gross revenue, according to the trust's second- quarter results this year, has doubled over the previous year.

The previously lacklustre sales were because the mall did not have 'the right tenant mix' with the furniture stores, said Mr Lee Hsien Yang, the chairman of Fraser & Neave, Frasers' parent company.

Frasers plans to transform Northpoint and Causeway Point, as well as add three soon-to-be-built malls - Yew Tee Mall, Bedok Mall and Northpoint 2 - to its $989 million portfolio by 2010.

Northpoint 2, which will cost $38.6 million to build, will add 80,000 sq ft of retail space to the existing Northpoint mall in Yishun by the middle of next year.

Frasers also plans to grow its existing portfolio of suburban malls in Malaysia and is looking to enter Vietnam, said Mr Tang.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on May 19, 2008

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