Market Plaza Redevelopment

[ChillyPhilly]

New thread for this one. The Market Plaza Food Court and surrounding tenancies are being renovated completely, with new eateries and retail outlets. This follows the closure of Kim Wang Supermarket earlier in 2024.

The current food court, on the eastern side of Moonta Street, has already seen most of its tenants shut, with a few to remain trading until the end of October. See photos as follows.

From Reddit:

As one of the former traders there, i can say that the landlords waited til everyone was finished with their leases before suddenly dropping the news that they would be doing mass renovations. They plan to change the entire food court into a gallery of shops instead. Instead of the current 15-20 places, it will be down to 8 stores for food and each will be its own individual restaurant with its own seating. It will no longer be a food court. Also, most people have decided not to take the new leases they just offered as the size of each tenancy will be double their current size and rent more than double in some cases. It just isn't reasonable or feasible for most of the small businesses to come back. Same reason why we didn't resign with them. Also no clue how long reno will take. Most of the owners didn't want any drama and they were asked to leave by August because they were supposed to start works in August but have since changed their minds to starting in October (maybe..) but have already told the ones who were part of the first portion of works (Taste of China, Mr Viet, Chinese Herbal Medicine Clinic, My Mum's Kitchen and Obun Chef) to vacate. The others (Nu Thai, Mum's Kimbab, Ramen Tei, Vegetarian, Self serve Market Fast Food) all left because their lease was up and they wanted to close down, from what we are aware of. Laksa House, O'sushi O'bento, Young Master Chicken Rice, Master Huang and Seng Kee Yum Cha will stay open until November from what we know. Source - Obun Chef owner

[Nort]

What a waste. One of the big benefits of the current setup is the ability for people to get food from different places and eat it together, and prices will almost certainly have to rise.

[Nathan]

Seems such a weird play, effectively trying to position it as direct competitor to the offering that will be in Market Square development (a battle it will surely lose on), instead of sticking to the cheap and cheerful counterpoint.

[abc]

just kill any character it had and turn it into a generic franchise mall with overpriced food like the place across the street