TRANSFORMING STARHILL GALLERY
Top 3 floors of luxury retail mall will be converted into JW Marriott Hotel rooms
STARHILL Global Real Estate Investment Trust (Starhill REIT) has started its RM175 million revamp of Starhill Gallery mall, its luxury retail mall in the Bukit Bintang shopping district, here.
The revamp will transform Starhill Gallery into an integrated development with hotel and retail elements, as the mall evolves to stay at the forefront of a changing retail landscape.
The mall, developed by YTL Corp Bhd, opened in 1996 and houses more than 100 renowned luxury timepiece and jewellery brands, as well as other contemporary luxury labels. It last underwent extensive renovations in 2005, with a facelift in 2011.
As part of the revamp process, the adjoining JW Marriott Hotel Kuala Lumpur, owned by YTL Hotels & Properties Sdn Bhd, would add 162 hotel rooms to its inventory, said YTL Land & Development Bhd vice-president Joseph Yeoh.
Under the revamp to the retail segment, the top three floors of the Starhill Gallery will be converted into hotel rooms and be an extension of the five-star JW Marriott Hotel.
Offering new and stylish accommodation, the new extension will be seamlessly integrated with the lower retail space into one vertical seven-floor development.
It is set to be the first in Asia to break down the boundary between retail and hospitality.
The mall, which sits directly opposite Pavilion KL, is connected to JW Marriott by a “Time Tunnel” link bridge, which also connects to YTL Hospitality REIT’s Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur.
By combining JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur and Ritz-Carlton, there would be more than 1,100 rooms seamlessly connected to the mall in two years, said Yeoh.
The mall, facing Jalan Gading and Jalan Bukit Bintang, has been partially closed since last month for renovation, with some brands continuing to operate.
Yeoh said phase one of renovation was expected to be completed in the second quarter of next year, in tandem with the relaunch of Shook!, Lu Yu Tea House and Jogoya.
He added that the soft opening of new stores and food and beverage outlets was targeted for the final quarter of next year.
When the mall opens fully in 2021, it will be revealed as The Starhill — Home of the Tastemakers.
Yeoh said it was crucial for The Starhill to optimise the cross cultivation of experiences between the retail and hospitality floors to offer unique shopping offerings for guests from the two luxury hotels.
“The Starhill bucks the city’s cookie-cutter mall trend, going boutique-size at 300,000 square feet of retail space to cultivate a more personalised retail ambience, which is warm yet discreet, when others have gone mega with an anodyne take on the shopping experience.
“With fast-changing values and consumption behaviour among savvy and socially-connected consumers, the transformation to become The Starhill is in line with the need for retail malls to constantly evolve and differentiate to stay at the forefront of the changing retail landscape.”
Key to the refurbishment was to improve spatial layout, circulation and overall shopping experience, he added.
YTL Starhill Global REIT Management Ltd, the manager for Starhill REIT, reportedly said in March the transformation plan was timely as competition in mid- to high-end retail was likely to intensify.
The retail supply within a 10km radius of the mall is expected to increase by 31 per cent to some 27 million sq ft by 2023, which will exert pressure on the rental and occupancy rates.