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Alibaba, Perennial consortium to redevelop AXA Tower into Singapore’s tallest skyscraper in bet on office space, hotel market

  • Alibaba is working with a consortium including Perennial Real Estate Holdings to redevelop AXA Tower in Singapore’s business district, according to sources
  • The project comes amid a big bet on office space and hotel market in the city that has largely scrapped Covid-19 travel curbs

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Alibaba Group is turning the 50-storey AXA Tower into Singapore’s tallest building at up to 305 metres. Photo: Handout
Cheryl Arcibal
China’s leading e-commerce group Alibaba Group Holding is building Singapore’s tallest skyscraper by redeveloping the AXA Tower in the city’s financial hub, two years after buying half of the S$1.68 billion (US$1.2 billion) property.

The approved plan showed that a 63-storey mixed-use building with prime office space with hotel, retail and leisure components, would take the place of the 50-storey tower in Tanjong Pagar district. Its maximum approved height of 305 metres (1,000 feet) would surpass the current record held by the 284-metre Guoco Tower, also located in the vicinity.

The redevelopment of 8 Shenton Way, the property address, has received the go-ahead from Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), according to an earlier report by local media Channel News Asia.

Alibaba bought a 50 per cent stake in AXA Tower, which has 1.05 million sq ft of gross floor area, in June 2020 from a consortium of investors including Perennial Real Estate Holdings, according to stock exchange filings. Perennial was taken private by its major shareholders and delisted in September 2020 and renamed Perennial Holdings Pte Ltd.
Based on URA’s Master Plan 2019, AXA Tower had already secured an approval to expand its gross floor area from existing 1.05 million square feet to 1.24 million, and to 1.55 million should it integrate hotel and residential usage under an incentive scheme for projects in the central business district.

Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post, declined to comment on the AXA Tower redevelopment project, located at 8 Shenton Way in Singapore.

The redevelopment comes as investors recalibrate their real estate strategy amid a shift to flexible work arrangements resulting from social distancing measures implemented during the coronavirus pandemic. Rents on prime office space increased last quarter amid quality upgrades, analysts said.

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