SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - Like most residents in Singapore during the two-month-long “circuit breaker” two years ago, Tan Zhiyong, CEO of MCC Group in Singapore, grew bored and restless while confined within his condominium. He did not take up arts and crafts, acquire any baking or culinary skills, or become a gamer. Instead, his mind began to wander, he relates.
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With working from home and home-based learning taking place en masse due to the lockdown, it dawned on Tan that what people wanted wasn’t just space, but flexibility of space use — “space that can be transformed to suit one’s needs”, he says. That sparked the concept for M.SPACO, a name that combines “MCC Group” and “SPACO” which is derived from “spacio”, the Latin word for space.
M.SPACO’s pilot “experiential gallery” has opened in a trial launch at The Poiz Centre, a 50,000 sq ft retail and lifestyle mall adjacent to Potong Pasir MRT Station on the North-East Line. The Poiz Centre is part of a mixed-use development that includes the 731-unit The Poiz Residences, which was developed by MCC Land, the property development arm of MCC Group, and completed in 2018. MCC still owns The Poiz Centre.
The 10,000 sq ft M.SPACO gallery is divided into four zones: living, dining, kitchen and bedroom. The bedroom zone includes a staged children’s bedroom and study. The kitchen corner features electronic appliances from Daikin, Electrolux, Samsung and Xiaomi, as well as kitchen appliances from German brand Häfele to top-of-the-line Swiss brand V-Zug. The kitchen showroom is also fully fitted with Häfele kitchen cabinetry. Along one wall is a display of home farming systems, while another corner has been turned into a display of stationary bikes with immersive features.
The dining zone showcases furniture by Singapore-based, handcrafted wooden furniture design firm Smoke. The café, called Addicted to Black, is also operated by Smoke. An event space, a live-streaming studio and a property sales gallery showing MCC Group’s development projects with virtual walkthroughs, round off the gallery at M.SPACO. “At every corner you will see something unexpected,” says Tan.
Up to 30 business partners and suppliers are participating in M.SPACO, with their merchandise offered for sale on the M.SPACO online mall and the mobile application.
As a testbed, the M.SPACO gallery at The Poiz Centre will continue to evolve, says Tan. In the next phase, M.SPACO will offer interior design services. Customers can walk in for consultation, view the staged interiors and building materials, or engage the online consultants for home renovation and home staging services via 3D tools.
Tan sees the M.SPACO gallery serving the Potong Pasir community too. Hence, he is considering having a restaurant there, to complement the café. “Residents in the area can browse at M.SPACO, buy online, attend workshops, visit pop-up stores, or enjoy a cup of coffee while discussing interior design ideas with one of the consultants,” he says.
While the M.SPACO at The Poiz Centre is the pilot, Tan has designated the future M.SPACO at Tanah Merah to be the flagship, with over 20,000 sq ft of gallery space. The new mixed-use development at Tanah Merah will be called Sceneca Residence, with 265 units, while the 21,528 sq ft commercial podium will house the flagship M.SPACO.
Sceneca Residence is targeted to launch sometime in 2H2022. It is jointly developed by MCC Land (51% stake), Singapore-listed Chinese developer The Place Holdings (20%) and Malaysian developer Ekovest Development (29%). MCC Land had won the site at Tanah Merah Kechil Link next to Tanah Merah MRT Station, in a government land tender in November 2020. It had submitted a bid of $248.99 million, which was the highest of 15 bids received at the close of the tender. The bid price for the 99-year leasehold site translated to $930 psf per plot ratio.
The M.SPACO at Tanah Merah will feature a new concept supermarket, according to Tan. He intends to incorporate data intelligence into the supermarket to determine what products to carry that would serve the needs of the community there.
On the cards is also an M.SPACO at One Bernam, developed in a joint venture between MCC Land and Hao Yuan Investment. Located in Tanjong Pagar in the CBD, One Bernam is a 35-storey, mixed-use development with 351 residential units, a 13-key boutique serviced apartment and a two-storey, 15,726 sq ft retail podium. Since the project launched in May last year, 90 units (25.6%) have been sold to date at an average price of $2,492 psf, according to caveats lodged with URA Realis.
Located in District 2, One Bernam, like other high-end condominiums in the Core Central Region, has been more affected by the property cooling measures rolled out on Dec 16. “The higher additional buyer’s stamp duty [ABSD] for foreigners is a deterrent,” says Tan.
Nevertheless, Tan is optimistic about the long-term prospects of Tanjong Pagar. “In five years, it will be a very liveable area, with all the redevelopment and new developments completing,” he says. “A lot of young foreigners, professionals and those working in the tech sector tend to gravitate to apartments in the city centre.” Hence, he anticipates Tanjong Pagar to become very vibrant in five years’ time.
The M.SPACO at One Bernam could potentially be “more F&B-focused”, says Tan. With One Bernam expected to be completed sometime in 2026, he sees the project contributing to the revitalisation of Tanjong Pagar.
Another project developed by MCC Land and launched at the same time as One Bernam last year was the 413-unit executive condo Provence Residences at Canberra Link in Sembawang, the northern region of Singapore. To date, 399 units have been sold in less than a year, bringing the sales rate to 96.6%. Average price of units sold is $1,171 psf, according to Realis caveats.
Tan does not expect the property cooling measures to have a significant impact on the upcoming launch of Sceneca Residence at Tanah Merah. This is because there is limited new inventory in this eastern suburb, he adds. He is betting that the M.SPACO at Tanah Merah will be a draw for future residents at Sceneca Residence and those in the neighbourhood.
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