Liat Towers

Liat Towers
Liat Towers, March 2006, with parts of Wheelock Place in the background
Map
LocationSingapore
Coordinates1°18′19″N 103°49′50″E / 1.30528°N 103.83056°E / 1.30528; 103.83056
Address541 Orchard Rd, Singapore 238881
Opening dateSeptember 11, 1965; 59 years ago (1965-09-11)[1]
OwnerBonvests Holdings Limited[2]
Total retail floor area400 to 5,500 square feet (37 to 511 m2)[2]
No. of floors21
Public transit access NS22  TE14  Orchard
Websitewww.liattowers.com

Liat Towers is a shopping mall and mixed-use complex in Orchard Road, Singapore. It has 21 floors with offices, foodservice outlets, retail stores and embassies.[3] It is located close to Orchard MRT station. The building was first constructed in 1965, before it was redeveloped into its current state in 1979.[4]

History

Liat Towers first opened in September 1965, one of the first few malls to make its mark on Orchard Road. In 1977, a redevelopment was announced, which was completed in 1979.[4]

First outlet milestones

McDonald's

It was the location of McDonald's first outlet in Singapore, which opened on 20 October 1979.[5] It was also the first ever McDonald's outlet in a Southeast Asian country.[6]

Starbucks

It was also the location of Starbucks' first outlet in Singapore, opening in December 1996. Similarly to McDonald's, it was the first ever Starbucks outlet in a Southeast Asian country. It was also the coffeehouse chain's 2nd ever overseas outlet outside of the United States, a time whereby Starbucks was not yet a household name.[7][8][9] Starbucks still exists at Liat Towers, and its outlet was renovated in 2019.[10]

Description

The stores in the tower range from 400 to 5,500 square feet (37 to 511 m2) in floor area. Some tenant retailers include Massimo Dutti, Zara, Hermes, and famed luxury watch brand Audemars Piguet. Zara closed down the outlet in June 2022 and was replaced by Castlery which was relocated from Delta House in 2015 - 2018 and Jit Poh Building from 2019 to September 2022.[11] It has a car park, and is in the middle of the prestigious Orchard shopping district of Singapore.

The tower is also close by to other retail and service buildings in the city, such as several hotels, the most prominent example being the Mandarin Orchard Singapore, along with several well-known malls such as Ngee Ann City, Wisma Atria, ION Orchard and Hilton Singapore. Some of the restaurants in Liat Towers include Shake Shack, which occupies the same spot where Singapore's first McDonald's once stood.[a]

  • Zara, one of the tenants near the entrance of the tower
    Zara, one of the tenants near the entrance of the tower
  • The office tower
    The office tower

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The McDonald's outlet at Liat Towers closed its operations a decade after its opening in October 1989. It was subsequently replaced by a Burger King and a Wendy's before Shake Shack began operations in August 2020.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Liat Towers - Home". liattowers.com. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Liat Towers". bonvests.com.sg. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  3. ^ "Liat Towers - Home". April 13, 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Liat Towers". www.roots.gov.sg. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  5. ^ a b Yong, Nicholas (26 March 2021). "Memory Makers: The day McDonald's opened in Singapore to much fanfare". sg.news.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 25 March 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  6. ^ Lionson, Kit (26 July 2016). "McDonald's Singapore franchise sold: A history of the Golden Arches here". www.straitstimes.com. Archived from the original on 11 January 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  7. ^ "Starbucks to open store in Singapore - UPI Archives". UPI. 12 August 1996. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  8. ^ "Starbucks in Singapore". The New York Times. 14 August 1996. Archived from the original on 5 May 2009. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  9. ^ "Starbucks To Open Stores In Singapore". www.spokesman.com. The Spokesman-Review. 14 August 1996. Archived from the original on 5 March 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  10. ^ "Singapore's first-ever Starbucks store at Liat Towers reopens with a new look". coconuts.co. 11 February 2019. Archived from the original on 11 February 2019. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  11. ^ "Liat Towers - Office in Orchard Road - STProperty". April 14, 2018.
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