Ascott eyes millennials with its first co-living space lyf Funan

Singapore

CAPITALAND business unit The Ascott has opened lyf Funan Singapore - its first co-living property spanning around 121,000 square feet (sq ft) in gross floor area.

The nine-storey lyf Funan property comprises 412 rooms across 279 apartments. Five apartment types ranging from 18 to 105 square metres are available, with room rates from S$150, excluding taxes, to cater to both short and long stays.

Targeted at millennials, the lyf concept is said to be "managed by millennials for the millennials and millennial-minded", and looks to provide collaborative spaces and social programmes to create a "live-work-play" experience.

This includes allowing guests to co-organise and co-create community programmes, or partake in TED talks, craft workshops and hackathons.

lyf Funan Singapore will also be managed by millennial "lyf guards" - who are community managers, city and food guides, bar keepers, event organisers and problem solvers all rolled into one.

Seven more lyf properties are slated to open in the next three years, with two more opening in Singapore - lyf Farrer Park Singapore which will open in 2020, and lyf one-north Singapore which will open in 2021.

The other markets are Bangkok, Fukuoka, Kuala Lumpur, Cebu and Shanghai, with the properties due to open by 2022.

Ascott is also eyeing key gateway cities in Australia, France, Germany, Indonesia, the Netherlands, South Korea and the UK, where it will explore introducing lyf via investment, management contracts or leases.

Mindy Teo, Ascott's deputy managing director of lyf, said lyf Funan is South-east Asia's largest co-living property and that the millennial segment - the fastest-growing travel segment - already forms a quarter of Ascott's customer base, and is expected to grow.

"Our lyf properties are specially designed to cater to millennials' craving for social connections, collaboration and co-creation," Ms Teo said.

CapitaLand shares closed at S$3.51 on Thursday, up 2 Singapore cents or 0.57 per cent.