Golden Shoe to still have hawker centre after redevelopment

Golden Shoe Car Park in the Raffles Place financial district is to be redeveloped into an office building as high as 280m - one of the tallest in the central business district.

For countless hungry Raffles Place workers, the 1984 building is best known as home to a favourite lunchtime spot.

But they can rest assured that lunch will still be served there, as there will be a new hawker centre owned by the Government in the redeveloped site.

The manager of CapitaLand Commercial Trust (CCT), the property owner, said yesterday it has put in redevelopment plans for the 10-storey building to the authorities.

The trust said if the necessary approvals are obtained, redevelopment will commence in the second half of 2017, and could be finished by 2021.

Alan Phua, who manages the Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee in the food centre at Golden Shoe Car Park, told The Straits Times yesterday that he had not been informed of the redevelopment.

However, he said he had been expecting the redevelopment next year as the lease will end then.

He said his stall was popular with lots of regulars and that he would definitely want to return to the redeveloped food centre.

Selva Nathan, a 61-year-old property investment executive, is sad to see the food centre go as he has been eating there a few times a week for 20 years.

"There are other places in the area but Golden Shoe has a very convenient location and we know most of the hawkers here.

I hope they will bring back the hawkers after the redevelopment of the place."

Others such as financial adviser Ella Lim, 23, lamented the loss of Singapore's food hawker heritage.

"It's a waste to see it go, we should try to preserve hawker culture. I hope that they keep some of the hawkers."

Lynette Leong, chief executive of CCT Management, said: "We are confident of the long-term demand for quality office space in Singapore, and there is no known new supply in Raffles Place beyond 2018."

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