A HUGE mall in the west, set to be the third largest suburban mall here when it opens
next year, has already leased 80 per cent of its retail area.

The mall and office block, called Jem, is near Jurong East MRT station and will house
260 tenants over six floors once all the space is leased out.

Major Australian developer Lend Lease has pumped a total of $1.4 billion into the project
- the most expensive project it has mounted here.

Jem, touted as the Orchard Road of the west, is on track for its scheduled opening in thesecond quarter of next year, the developer said.

The mall will house retail favourites such as Swedish clothing brand H&M and
Singapore’s first 24-hour cinema, operated by Cathay.

At a press conference yesterday, project development director Paul Walker dismissed
talk that the market is saturated in the area. On the contrary, he said, residents there are still undersupplied in terms of retail space, compared with other districts here.

For instance, there is about 2 sq ft of retail space per person in the west, but it is 2.6 in
the east, he said.

This takes into account several new malls which will sprout up in the next few months, including JCube, which is set to open on April 2.

Mr Walker declined to disclose details of rents at Jem, but said they were ‘very
competitive’.

Mr Danny Yeo, group managing director of property consultancy Knight Frank, estimated that rents there could average about $15 per sq ft, given the size and location of the mall.

Other factors which could determine the rents are the fully leased office tower and the big residential catchment in the area.

When it is open, Jem, with a gross floor area of 818,000 sq ft, is expected to serve about 300,000 people living within a 1.5km radius of the place.