The Cathay to close in August for about 1½ years for major revamp

SINGAPORE - National monument

The Cathay

will be closed for about 1½ years in August for revitalisation works, the building’s owner, Cathay Organisation, said on Friday.

It will be the iconic building’s first major revamp since 2003, when most of the structure was redeveloped, save for its 1930s art deco facade.

DP Architects, known for designing local landmarks such as Golden Mile Complex and People’s Park Complex, has been commissioned to reimagine The Cathay.

Noting that the revamp supports the planned facelift of Dhoby Ghaut and its surrounding area, a spokesman for The Cathay said the building will continue to be at the forefront of Singapore’s changing landscape.

“Our patrons and community alike can look forward to a refreshing and eclectic tenant mix,” she added.

She said the mall should reopen ahead of Christmas in 2024, and that more details of the revamp will be revealed at a later stage.

Tenants of the mall have been informed of the upcoming redevelopment and will be moving out by Aug 18.

Residents of The Cathay, occupying the sixth to 17th floors of the building, will be unaffected and can access their homes via a private main entrance on Mount Sophia.

The Cathay, which has been in operation since 1939, is a mixed-use 17-storey cinema, shopping mall and apartment building in Handy Road.

The front facade of its theatre building structure was gazetted as a national monument for conservation in February 2003.

Its iconic cinema, the Cathay Cineplex,

closed on June 27, 2022, after 83 years.

Media company mm2 Asia, which runs the Cathay Cineplex chain in Singapore, said the closure is “part of the cost rationalisation process for its cinema operations”.

Independent cinema operator The Projector took over the space as a pop-up for films and live performances.

The Straits Times reported in June 2022 that

The Cathay’s crowd was greatly affected by the pandemic,

and that tenants were concerned about the mall’s decline in footfall over the past two years.

Unoccupied units were seen across the building, and popular brands such as Adidas and Ben & Jerry’s had ceased operations.

The report also noted that The Cathay’s retail scene was not as vibrant as that of nearby competing malls such as Plaza Singapura, which is connected directly to Dhoby Ghaut MRT station.