SINGAPORE – The 101-year-old former St Andrew’s Mission Hospital, located off Maxwell Road, will be transformed into a creative lifestyle and wellness hub, equipped with co-working facilities.
In early April, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) awarded a tender for the site at 5 Kadayanallur Street to healthcare provider Bethesda Medical.
Responding to queries, SLA said Bethesda Medical’s proposal had the highest combined score in terms of price and quality of the 14 received, with a strong focus on community building and connecting people with businesses.
The winning proposal “provides for regular community events involving arts, fitness and gastronomic experiences for the public to enjoy”, SLA added.
The first floor of the three-storey building will have 10 food and beverage offerings. On the second and third floors, Bethesda Medical plans to set up a co-working space that can double up as an event space for art exhibitions and talks, along with a health and fitness zone, and a section for ice baths.
The second floor may also include an area for speciality retail, as well as art and music therapy.
Bethesda Medical has prior experience in revamping a historical building. It is the master tenant for Margaret Market in Queenstown, the only remaining market built by the Singapore Improvement Trust.
The company said it will apply two learning points from running Margaret Market to the Maxwell site, which it will name “#5 Kada”.
First, to focus on people by engaging the community and catering to the specific needs of those in the area and, second, to carefully curate tenants to create “meaningful and vibrant spaces”.
Kada refers to a traditional bracelet which is believed to contain healing properties and good luck in Indian culture.
Bethesda Medical also said its refurbishment works will showcase the architecture of the building, which is one of Singapore’s earliest modernist structures, while also adding modern spaces.
Noting that the building houses what is believed to be the oldest electric lift in Singapore, the firm said it will restore the lift so that it can continue operating reliably within the refreshed site.
It also intends to transform the central atrium on the ground floor into an air-conditioned courtyard dining area with natural sunlight.
Bethesda Medical plans for tenants to offer meal plans with nutritional recommendations, farm-to-table produce and international cuisine, to set its dining options apart from restaurants in the area and Maxwell Food Centre.
It has proposed holding monthly events such as farmers’ markets and holiday festivals at the parking lot.
On offering ice baths, Bethesda Medical said these are known for benefits such as reducing inflammation, aiding muscle recovery and improving overall well-being.
The offering complements the hub’s emphasis on holistic wellness by catering to the needs of busy people working in the area who may have limited time for recovery after exercising, it added.
The health provider also said it would explore prospective partnerships to host activities that add to the vibrancy of the site, such as mini art exhibitions or concerts with the National Arts Council and art schools, as well as book launches with the National Library Board, among others.
Bethesda Medical put in a bid of $103,000 a month to run the site for five years. The lease can be renewed for a second term of four years.
The highest bid received by SLA was $160,000 a month, while the lowest was $20,000.
This site is one of several state buildings that SLA has leased out as part of its efforts to revitalise state property for creative adaptive use.
A building at 26 Evans Road near Singapore Botanic Gardens is set to become a co-living residence after SLA awarded a tender to hospitality management company Cover Projects in January 2024.
In August 2023, a tender was awarded to adapt a two-storey building in Little India for co-living use.
Correction note: An earlier version of this story stated that the lowest bid received by SLA was $25,000 a month. It should be $20,000. We are sorry for the error.
