About Selegie Centre
Selegie Centre was a 10-storey freehold mixed-use building at 189 Selegie Road, at the junction with Mackenzie Road in District 7 (Beach Road, Bugis, Rochor). Built in the late 1980s, it had 33 shops on the lower floors with apartments above, and a gross floor area of just over 60,000 sq ft.
The building no longer exists. Its owners sold it collectively in March 2019 for $120 million to Peak Tower Corporation, and it was later demolished. A new hotel, Varel Singapore, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel, opened on the site on 2 April 2026 with 128 rooms. OneMap now lists 189 Selegie Road, Singapore 188332, under the hotel's name. Contact details on this page relate to the original building and may change.
Interesting facts
The $120 million price matched the owners' reserve price and worked out to about $1,942 per sq ft per plot ratio. Reports described it as the first commercial collective sale of 2019.
The buyer's first hotel proposal was turned down by the Urban Redevelopment Authority in March 2019. Revised plans added a two-metre setback and a motorised turntable for coaches, according to media reports.
Early plans were for a micro-hotel of about 175 to 180 rooms. The hotel that eventually opened has 128 rooms, a rooftop infinity pool and sky terraces, and was designed by architecture firm FDAT.
The hotel is part of Marriott's Tribute Portfolio brand, and its design is said to draw on the shophouses of the Selegie neighbourhood.
Nearby
Little India MRT (North East and Downtown lines) is about 3 to 5 minutes away on foot, and Rochor MRT (Downtown Line) about 6 minutes. Tekka Centre, with its wet market and hawker centre, is just across Bukit Timah Road. The conserved Ellison Building of 1924 stands at the corner of Selegie Road and Bukit Timah Road, and Selegie House is a short walk south. Mount Emily Park is up the hill behind Mackenzie Road.
Key facts
Address: 189 Selegie Road, Singapore 188332
District: 7 (Beach Road, Bugis, Rochor)
Property type: Former mixed-use building (shops and apartments); site now a hotel
Completed: Late 1980s (reported as 1989); demolished after the 2019 collective sale
Tenure: Freehold
Storeys: 10 (original building)
Units: 33 shops plus apartments (original building)
Nearest MRT: Little India (NE7/DT12), Rochor (DT13)
MCST: 1199 (original building)