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Lim: We are hoteliers and we see the possibility of revolutionizing the medical hospitality sector in Singapore with our next concept. (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)
Local asset control corporate hedging projects were the highlight last year when the Land Authority of Singapore (SLA) awarded it the tender for the heritage assets at 26 Evans Road last October.
At the close of the bidding, SLA had won 25 bids for Array that were evaluated based on value and quality. Cover Projects submitted the second-highest bid, a monthly payment of $265,000, well above the $165,000 to $168,000 bids submitted through LHN Group. and The Assembly Place, which are among Singapore’s largest shared housing operators. It has a lease term of five plus 4 years.
Lim Keong Wee, co-founder of Cover Projects, is convinced of the project’s viability after achieving detailed feasibility with his team.
Also Read: Frontpage Projects to Launch Serviced Apartments ‘The Initial Sama’ at 26 Evans Road
Cover Projects intends to position the assets as a high-level convivial concept based on wellness, preventative care, and community. Keong Wee hopes to create “Singapore’s first wellness-focused residential community” at 26 Evans Road. Sama”, derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Sama’ meaning ‘balanced’ or ‘well maintained’.
Artist’s impression of what a piece of The Initial Sama looks like. (Photo: Cover Projects)
Keong Wee is one of the grandsons of the late Lim Goh Tong, patriarch and founder of Genting Group, a business empire involved in casinos, hotels, real estate developments, energy and biotechnology. Forbes ranked Lim Goh Tong as the third richest man. in Malaysia, with a net worth of $4. 3 billion before his death in 2007 at the age of 89.
Keong Wee’s father, Lim Chee Wah, is the founder and chairman of the VXL organization and former deputy CEO of Genting Bhd and co-CEO of Asiatic Development. Chee Wah is the brother of Malaysian billionaire Lim Kok Thay, the current president. of the Genting Group.
However, Keong Wee did not sign up for the family business. An architect by training, Keong Wee completed his Bachelor of Architecture at the University of East London and worked as an architect at Fosters Partners and Plasma Studio in London before leaving to set up the architecture and design firm PAC.
He co-founded PAC with Victoria Loh at 2009. La design firm focused primarily on the design and overall planning of large-scale hotels and resorts. These include the Genting Jurong Hotel in Singapore; the Master Plan for the 2022 Winter Olympics at Genting Secret Garden Resort in Hebei, China; and the Karuizawa Prince Hotel ski resort in Nagano, Japan.
The duo co-founded Cover Projects in 2015. According to Keong Wee, this is an “opportunistic expansion” of the architecture and design firm.
Also read: Cover Projects wins tender for heritage construction at 26 Evans Road
After honing his expertise in real estate and hospitality, Keong Wee decided to establish an asset control company, leveraging the skills and experience he gained from designing large-scale resorts.
PAC has also ventured into retail outlets in Singapore, focusing on adding price to underutilized assets through its designs. Cover Projects was a spin-off of PAC, focused primarily on owning and operating a number of youth hostels. According to Keong Wee, the timing was right, as it coincided with the rise of “experiential travel” popularized through a new generation of millennial travelers.
The first acquisition of Cover Projects, a store at 3 Stanley Street, led to the launch of Eighteen to Three Cabins, a premium hostel brand, in 2017. Its launch aligned with the coliving boom in Singapore and created a new, more premium niche, well. above the typical budget hostels.
At the end of 2019, Keong Wee was looking to acquire another store to strengthen the company’s presence in the hostel segment. However, when the pandemic hit in early 2020, the company decided to sell the Stanley Street store and reevaluate its business model.
It was concentrating on soft asset control and instead concentrating on asset control. The trading home at 3 Stanley Street sold for $15 million, based on a bond filed in June 2021.
“After selling the Stanley Street store, we were actively looking for prime leasing opportunities, hoping to be able to manage an entire building,” says Keong Wee.
The first framework contract was received for the control of a 30-room serviced apartment in Balestier, The Initial Residence. The building at 355 Balestier Road has 46 apartments, with a mix of studio, one, and two-bedroom units.
La Résidence Initiale Balestier is a serviced apartment managed through Cover Projects. (Photo: Cover Projects)
After securing the master lease in June 2021, Cover Projects spent two months renovating the assets before reopening them as an initial residence in September of that year. In addition to the residences, Cover Projects has incorporated a cafeteria and a coworking space on the ground floor. of the building, open to citizens and the public. It also manages advertising.
“We saw an opportunity to incorporate our concept of integrating elements of work, personal life and play into a build and used The Initial Residence as the first product of our urban living brand,” says Keong Wee.
By the end of 2021, the occupancy rate of the Initial Residence reached 85%. It has remained constant up to this point for the past two years. In the immediate post-Covid period, the average length of stay is three months, notes Keong Wee. Since then, it has seen an increase in the number of business and leisure travelers occupying rooms for an average of 10 days.
Keong Wee notes that the initial residence’s proximity to Novena Health City has also contributed to the increase in the number of medical tourists among its occupants.
The Résidence Initiale Balestier combines amenities with shared workspaces (pictured) and a café. (Photo: Cover Projects)
Beginning with The Initial Residence, Cover Projects became interested in the control of state-owned heritage properties. In 2021, the company submitted a bid to manage the former Bukit Timah fire station. According to Keong Wee, the concept was a network center anchored in cohousing apartments and incorporated into urban agriculture and other lifestyle concepts.
“Borrowing from our experience in planning the master plan for the 2022 Winter Olympics at Genting Secret Garden Resort in China, we envisioned a social village and sought to introduce sports facilities as part of the place-building effort,” he says.
The concept was interesting enough to cover projects among SLA’s shortlisted bids to manage the conservation site, but the company lost out in terms of price, Keong Wee says.
Although Cover Projects didn’t win the bid, they weren’t intimidated. And when the tender was called for the 26 Evans Road property, the company was determined to win the site.
Keong Wee says, “This required us to take a more disciplined look at the advertising aspect of our concept, adjusting our assessment of capital expenditures, lease length, community character, and the importance of connectivity when adjusting our concept proposition.
Cover Projects’ concept for heritage construction at 26 Evans Road will focus on two key facets of wellbeing: preventative care and post-convalescent care (Photo: ALS)
The heritage building at 26 Evans Road sits on a sprawling 153,821-square-foot site off the coast of Bukit Timah and is a short walk from the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The concept will focus on two key facets of wellness: preventive care and post-convalescent care.
“The merit of this asset is its herbaceous, vegetated environment and its proximity to the Singapore Botanic Gardens, which already lends itself to this aspect of wellness,” says Keong Wee.
The site is a four-minute drive from Gleneagles Hospital and Medical Center on Napier Road. Keong Wee hopes to cash in on patients at the private hospital who are looking for a wellness-focused network to stay in their recovery. “We understand hospitality and see the potential to revolutionize the medical hospitality sector in Singapore with our next concept,” he adds.
Cover Projects won the tender for an estate at 26 Evans Road with its concept of a shared wellbeing village. (Photo: Cover Projects)
Another charm of the is the central courtyard, surrounded by several low-rise conservation buildings that are a combination of one, two, and three floors. “Courtyards are a vital central domain in the design of a social space,” says Keong Wee.
The retained assets will be remodeled into 74 serviced apartments, basically studios, one- and two-bedroom units. The interiors will be “retro-modern, incorporating biophilic elements and herbal furnishings. “
The design and layout of the one-bedroom sets will also meet the desires of business travellers arriving in Singapore in search of a combination of business and pleasure. The studios will be located to appeal to certain C-suite environments, while the two bedrooms are designed with small families in mind.
Cover Projects will hand over the keys to 26 Evans Road later this month, and The Initial Sama will open its doors in the second quarter of 2025.
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