Singapore’s Amara Launches First Luxury Hotel in Shanghai

Singapore’s Amara Holdings bought a plot of land in Shanghai’s Puxi district in 1996, and more than two decades later, the property and hospitality group is marking its official debut in China with the launch of a 30-storey luxury hotel on the site.

The Amara Signature Shanghai is the group’s first hotel under its five-star Amara Signature brand, according to a statement by the Singapore-listed firm. The 343-room hotel adjoins Amara’s 100 AM Shanghai, a 10,500 square metre (113,021 square foot) complex combining an office tower and retail mall. Amara plans a soft opening for the mixed-use complex in the second half of this year.

The entire 4,000 square metre office block has been leased to flexible office operator Kr Space, which is backed by Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial.

Amara Marks Long-Awaited Launch of Luxury Hotel

Located at 600 Changshou Road, at the intersection with Jiaozhou Road, the complex is close to the Changshou Road metro station on lines 7 and 13. The project is just across the border from Jing’an district and a 10-minute drive to the district’s downtown business and commercial zone.

Amara bought the parcel from the Shanghai municipal land-planning bureau in 1996, with a 40-year lease that expires in 2037, according to a research note by financial services firm PhilipCapital. Amara disclosed the presence of the site and its intention of developing the parcel during the company’s IPO in 1997.

The group’s management reiterated plans in 2005 to complete the project before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but a corporate presentation five years after the games revealed that the completion date had been postponed to 2015.

The soft launch of the hotel offers 102 rooms for booking at the moment. Rooms and suites occupy the seventh to 30th floors and range from 32 to 149 square metres, and the property includes a full range of amenities for dining, fitness and events.

Hospitality Group Brings Brand to China

“After years of conceptualising and execution, we are excited to unveil our first luxury hotel brand, Amara Signature Shanghai, in the global city and top global financial centre – Shanghai,” commented Albert Teo, CEO of Amara in the statement. “This is an important milestone for Amara Holdings as we continue to look for opportunities to expand outside of Singapore.”

Singapore mainboard-listed Amara Holdings invests in hotel, property and restaurants. The company operates two hotels in Singapore, one in the city-state’s central business district and another in resort island Sentosa, as well as a 100 AM lifestyle mall.

The launch of Amara Signature Shanghai follows the group’s first overseas hotel foray, the opening of the 250-room Amara Bangkok in the Thai capital in 2015.

Five-Star Hotel Gets Co-working Neighbour

Chinese co-working operator Kr Space, a spinoff of Alibaba-backed technology platform 36Kr, signed a 10-year lease for the Shanghai project’s office component spanning 4,000 square metres (43,056 square feet) of gross floor area, according to an account in The Business Times.

The flexible office startup has recently completed a new RMB 600 million ($92 million) financing round to accelerate its expansion in top-tier cities in China, with backers like IDG Capital, China Minsheng Investment Management and Gobi Partners.