City Harvest Church: New Co-owners of Suntec Singapore

By Ron Chua

City Harvest Church has paid $310 million to be the co-owner of Suntec Singapore. This purchase was disclosed by senior pastor and founder Dr. Kong Hee during the Mar. 6 service at the Singapore Expo.

Reading from a legal statement, Dr. Kong said, “City Harvest Church has acquired a substantial stake in a consortium company that owns 80 per cent of the JV (joint-venture) fund that holds Suntec Singapore.”

Dr. Kong first told his congregation six weeks before that the church had acquired a prime piece of downtown real estate land for their new building. However, he could not reveal the exact details then due to non-disclosure agreements.

City Harvest Church revealed that 25 other plots of land were considered but 19 were unsuitable and six unsuccessful. In choosing the land, Dr. Kong said that the main consideration was it had to be “able to house 12-15,000 people”, “be centrally located and easily accessible via public transport” and “have facilities for everyone”. He added that Suntec Singapore is also near its corporate office at Suntec Tower Three, and its co-office at Riverwalk.

The sum of $310 million includes rental costs, renovation costs and the cost of share acquisition in the consortium.

The Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre has 78 years left in its lease. As co-owners, City Harvest Church will have exclusive use of levels six and seven, where the convention hall is located. Levels four and five, which are regularly used for exhibitions and conferences, will continue to be available for public lease.

The church will carry out all its services in this new location as well as its current building at Jurong West. They will move in on Mar. 2011 when their current contract with Singapore Expo expires.

Churchgoers were excited upon this new revelation. Cindy Chung, a student from the National University of Singapore, said, “Finally we can go to church and shop and eat all in one place.”

Others were delighted with the location. 56-year-old retiree Peter Lee, who stays in Clementi, said, “This is great. Going to Suntec for service will cut my travelling time by almost half.”

Coinciding with the announcement was the launch of the Arise & Build campaign, which aims to raise $17.3 million over the next four months to fund the fifth installment in a series of 13.

Citing a confidentiality agreement, City Harvest Church could not reveal the full details of how the $310 million would be spent, nor the number and price of the shares the church had bought.

However, “all material details” have been disclosed to the Commissioner of Charities and the Urban Redevelopment Authority.