Luxury developer KOP shifts focus to "entertainment real estate"

SINGAPORE: Luxury property developer KOP is perhaps best known for its Hamilton Scotts condominium, where a unit sold for as much as S$24 million.

It was also responsible for developing the Montigo resorts in Bali and Batam.

But the firm is changing its strategy to focus on building mixed-use entertainment centres.

Amid sluggish demand in the high-end property market, KOP said it is now seeing better prospects in a sector it calls "entertainment real estate".

Ong Chih Ching, group CEO of KOP Limited, said: "We think that the world is slightly anti-elitist right now. So as a company, we need to focus and look at what is next. And when we studied the market, we realised that we should go for consumer-type real estate.

I think that entertainment real estate is not something that a lot of the traditional developers have actually looked at, and that's why we think this is a good opportunity for us to enter."

KOP said it may derive ticketing or food and beverage sales from these entertainment venues.

In addition, given the rising popularity of online shopping, KOP said there is a need to give consumers a greater reason to leave their homes - be it for a concert, or for other forms of entertainment.

Ms Ong added: "There is a lot of online retail (these days), so that also will be a challenge, in terms of footfall and traffic to the malls."

Speaking to reporters ahead of its listing on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange on Monday, KOP said its first project in the area of "entertainment real estate" will come in the form of an indoor winter resort in Shanghai, China.

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Luxury developer KOP shifts focus to "entertainment real estate"