Singapore attractions to be redeveloped as housing

Attractions in the Singapore suburb of Yishun, including the ORTO leisure park, Turtle and Tortoise Museum and the non-profit Ground-Up Initiative, are to be forced to find a new location for their operations in order to make way for an upcoming residential development.

With the leases of each of the attractions to expire in December, the businesses are being given until 30th June next year to vacate the site.

In June, Singapore’s the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) identified the area for new housing, requiring that each of the attractions will have to relocate.

With each of the site’s tenants having been financially impacted by closures during COVID, relocation will create hardships for each of the businesses.

Channel NewsAsia reported that while tenants expressed sadness and disappointment over the news of the move-out date, which was communicated to them earlier this year by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), they said it did not come as a surprise.

Turtle and Tortoise Museum owner Connie Tan said she had been told, prior to relocating The Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum from Chinese Gardens in Jurong to ORTO in January 2019, that the remaining lease was only 14 to 15 months.

Tan advised “I knew about the timeline and that’s why I built the place while keeping in mind that it would be a temporary location only.”

However, she ended up staying longer than expected as the area’s redevelopment plans were delayed by the pandemic.

ORTO leisure park, the area’s main attraction is a 24-hour attraction that houses prawning and longkang fishing ponds, along with food and beverage outlets that has been operating since 2014.

Park spokesperson Clifford Loh told Channel NewsAsia “it’s sad and disappointing because many of the tenants have been operating here for a while, so there’s a sense of loss.

"But … we knew this day would come sooner or later so we just kind of prepared for it."

With just 10 months to the end of the lease extension, tenants are currently in varying stages of finding a new location.

Loh said ORTO’s management has secured a two-storey commercial building near Haw Par Villa MRT station at 27 West Coast Highway, which is expected to be ready in April.

He added that some of ORTO’s tenants may move to the new location and that negotiations are ongoing.

The Turtle Museum and the Ground-Up Initiative are also both in talks with the authorities for a new site.

Images: Singapore’ ORTO leisure park. Credit: Facebook/ORTO.