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Besides focusing on medium and long-term value enhancement strategies,
the Manager maintains a focus on:
- continued alignment of tenancy mix with market trends;
- enhancing the shopper experience to attract and retain increased traffic;
- formulating strategies and initiatives to deliver higher returns;
- setting optimal rental and expense benchmarks at each mall;
- reviewing space usage to optimise income;
- managing rental arrears to minimise bad debts;
- monitoring expenses to maximise net property income; and
- addressing all key operational issues to ensure alignment with the strategies.
Through the setting up of Asset Control Groups, the
Manager instils a disciplinary process in which monitoring
of asset performance is carried out on a regular basis and
the efforts of CapitaLand Retail Management Pte Ltd, the Property
Manager, is constantly assessed to ensure that it meets the
set targets.
• Continued alignment of tenancy mix with market trends
In order to enhance each shopping mall’s
appeal to a broad range of shoppers, the Manager and the Property
Manager monitor the mix of retail shops in each of the malls
as well as competing malls. This is done to ensure that the
highest possible customer traffic is generated in order to
maximise the sales of its retail tenants, thereby increasing
both the likelihood of the mall receiving higher rents from
new tenants and the potential for the mall to receive a higher
income from turnover rent (which is based on a percentage
of total sales generated).
Funan The IT Mall (Funan)
In a deliberate attempt to strengthen the tenancy mix at Funan,
new tenants were introduced during the course of the year.
These included a supermarket, a food court, food & beverage
outlets, lifestyle tenants, as well as brand name Information
Technology (IT) and electronic retailers. This provides the
platform for future strengthening of rental values and ensures
that Funan stays relevant to the needs of today’s shoppers.
• Enhancing the shopper experience to attract and retain
increased traffic
Upgraded restroom facilities
Cool graphics adorn walls |
Bright and airy |
Improved connectivity
Newly installed travellators.... |
...provide shoppers with better access to the basement carparks |
Improved shop front designs based on the Property
Manager’s guidelines
 
Before After
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Before After
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• A pro-active leasing strategy
The Manager works with the Property Manager
to manage lease renewals and new leases diligently in order
to minimise void periods arising from either lease expiries
or early terminations. This is achieved through:
- advance lease negotiations with tenants whose leases will
be expiring;
- having new tenants lined up in preparation for potential
vacant space;
- collecting a security deposit of at least 3 months’ rental
upfront to cushion against rental defaults; and
- monitoring rent arrears to minimise defaults by tenants.
• Innovations in marketing and promotion
The Manager places strong emphasis on the
marketing and promotion of the shopping malls. Customised
marketing plans are developed for each individual shopping
mall. These plans address retail mix, market characteristics
and costs of available media. Each plan will focus on the
shopping mall’s specific needs for maximising customer traffic
and sales by tenants. Some of these initiatives include the
“3-Hour Sales” event and celebrity appearances at the malls.
Celebrity appearances at the malls
Christmas Playhouse at Junction 8
• Upfront land premium payment for IMM
Building
Approval has also been obtained from JTC
for an upfront land premium payment of S$55.7 million in lieu
of annual land rent payments for the next 45 years. This,
combined with CMT’s investment in CRS, has boosted the projected
2004 DPU from the earlier forecast of 8.14 cents to 8.59 cents
per unit.
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