Nex

This article is about a shopping mall in Singapore. For the retailer operated by the United States Navy known as NEX, see Navy Exchange.

Coordinates: 1°22′10.7″N 103°50′54.6″E / 1.369639°N 103.848500°E / 1.369639; 103.848500

Nex (Nex Serangoon)

Main facade
Location Serangoon New Town, Singapore
Address 23 Serangoon Central
Opening date 25 November 2010
Management Mercatus Ltd
Owner Mercatus Ltd
No. of stores and services 340
No. of anchor tenants 19
Total retail floor area 600,000 square feet (56,000 m2)
No. of floors 7 (2 Basements, 4 Levels, 1 Rooftop Level)
Website Nex

Nex (stylized as "nex") is a superb regional suburban shopping mall in Serangoon, within the North-East Region of Singapore. The largest mall in the North East Corridor and one of the largest suburban malls in the country, it has an integrated air-conditioned Serangoon Bus Interchange, the fifth bus interchange in Singapore which is air-conditioned.

Taken from another angle showing green wall.
Inside nex
Showing the car park building at the left.

History

Nex was built on an empty plot of land 25,007.70 square metres in size directly above Serangoon MRT station, and was envisaged to better utilise land use by incorporating the existing Serangoon Bus Interchange which neighbours the new mall and takes up a relatively large area of land. The land was on the Government Land Sale Programme Reserve List and was first put on public tender by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) in 2003 as a 99-year leasehold white site, but it was not awarded. The LTA relaunched the site again on 7 December 2007 and when the tender closed on 26 March 2008, six bids were received, namely Gold Ridge Pte Ltd for $800,900,000.00, Serangoon Community Developments Pte Ltd for $727,000,000.00, FC Retail Trustee Pte Ltd (unit of Frasers Centrepoint) for $706,138,888.00, a joint venture comprising HSBC Institutional Trust Services (Singapore) Limited (trustee for CapitaMall Trust), NTUC Income Insurance Co-Operative Limited and NTUC Fairprice Co-Operative Limited for $660,926,828.00, a joint venture between City Ridgeview Pte Ltd (unit of City Developments), Hong Leong Holdings Limited and TID Pte Ltd for $401,000,000.00 and Peak Star Pte Ltd for $215,000,000.00. The land with a maximum gross floor area (GFA) of 87,527.00 square metres is thus awarded to Gold Ridge Pte Ltd on 28 March 2008 as the top bidder at a tendered price of S$9,150.32 per square metre of GFA.

Designed by SAA Architects, the mall was built by construction firm Low Keng Huat which was awarded the S$295 million contract on 25 November 2008 and the building broke ground in the same month. By April 2009, the owners has secured 30% occupancy commitments, and named the mall as "nex",[1] which refers to "Northeast Exchange" in reference to its location and its site above a major transport node. By July 2009, 60% of the space has been leased out and Isetan has secured a 53,000-square-foot (4,900 m2) space as the anchor department store outlet. On 3 February 2010, the National Library Board announced that the Serangoon Public Library with 17,000 square feet (1,600 m2) of space and a start-up collection of about 150,000 will be opened in the mall. It opened on 11 March 2011.[2]

The mall opened for its soft opening in November 2010, and was officially opened in April 2011.

The mall underwent substantial renovation between September 2014 to April 2015 to make way for the new H&M store on the 1st floor. A pair of escalators linking the 1st and 2nd floor were removed and the site where it once stood is now occupied by a shop; Direct access from the HDB Carpark to the pedestrian bridge was also created. At the same time, a pair of escalators linking Basement 1 and 2 received an overhaul for a period of 4 weeks in October 2014.

Facilities and amenities

The mall incorporates the five-bay Serangoon Bus Interchange on its lowest floor, with direct connections to Serangoon MRT station. Parts of the mall will remain permanently open for public access to transport facilities and to allow access to its 24-hour outlets such as [Fairprice Xtra & Cold Storage].

The mall also has a SkyGarden situated on its rooftop. The SkyGarden comprises a children's playground (with dry and wet interactive play equipment) named KidzPlay and a dog park, K9 Park. K9 Park is the first dog park that is incorporated into a mall in Singapore. Dog owners are able to bring their pets into the mall via assigned lifts and escalators near the exterior of the mall. Only certain designated areas of the mall such as these are permitted to the pets.[3]

The mall is also unique as it hosts two anchors of the same trade, such as Fairprice Xtra and Cold Storage, and Food Republic and Food Junction.

Anchor tenants

References

  1. ↑ Channel NewsAsia
  2. ↑ Breaking News - Singapore | The Straits Times
  3. ↑ "About Us". Nex. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
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