Elevate Capital’s Ashish Manchharam sees opportunities in living sector, lifestyle spaces

STAMFORD Court’s repositioning exercise – which will see it transformed into a mixed-use lifestyle destination with food and beverage (F&B) outlets, a co-working space and serviced apartments – is targeted for completion in mid-2026. 

“We are hoping to add an interesting mixed-use concept to revitalise the area and a reason for people to come, which will hopefully drive more foot traffic to the area,” Elevate Capital Group’s managing partner Ashish Manchharam said in an interview with The Business Times. “We aim to curate the ground-floor retail and F&B offerings based on demand from the immediate vicinity, but will also carve out a space with a unique concept that people would travel to as a destination.” 

In October, Elevate Capital announced that it had acquired the four-storey building in the City Hall area for S$132 million with PGIM Real Estate. This was the Singapore-based real estate investment and asset management firm’s first acquisition since it was founded by Manchharam earlier this year. 

The group is looking to introduce a co-working space and serviced apartments to the upper floors of the building. 

Manchharam said: “The vision is for boutique serviced apartments catering to mid to long-stay accommodation. The apartments aim to have a distinctive design-led approach with a focus on wellness and lifestyle offerings together with personalised service.” 

He noted how office occupiers are now demanding more flexibility in work spaces, which has created more demand for fully fitted offices. 

“The occupiers can simply bring their laptop, plug in and play. Like a hotel, these spaces can be leased on a short-term basis, providing flexibility for headcount growth. People come to the office less, they work from home more, so that’s a change that we cater towards.”

As Elevate Capital prepares to transform the building, Manchharam sees his experience in acquiring and restoring conservation shophouses as an asset. “In most instances, the easiest thing is to redevelop because you are building new and you can plan. What we are focused on doing with existing properties is sometimes a bit more challenging. That’s probably where our biggest value-add is as a company, because we’ve had that experience in working on similar properties and we’ve been doing it for a long time.”

Manchharam founded 8M Real Estate in 2014, with an initial portfolio of five adjoining shophouses in Amoy Street. Together with his team, he grew the portfolio to S$1.45 billion when he exited 8M about a year ago. The portfolio mostly comprised conservation shophouses in Chinatown and Boat Quay and properties in Little India and Holland Village. 

He noted: “When we first went into the space, we were really looking at yields, which were quite high at that time. Over time, as the prices grew, rents didn’t grow as quickly and so the yields were compressed. It became harder for us from that perspective to acquire a lot more as the prices grew. We decided we will continue growing but at a slower pace. 

“Other factors affected how we could grow as well. A high interest rate environment also meant we couldn’t grow as quickly. It got to a point where I felt we’ve stabilised the portfolio and I was ready to start another company and grow something else.”

“Adaptive reuse”

Manchharam’s focus for his new venture is on finding properties whose value he believes can be enhanced through repositioning and refurbishment. “We are looking at properties we can reuse and adapt to today’s environment. For an existing building which is 20 to 30 years old – what it was built for and what the potential or the best use is today could be quite different. Our focus is really around adaptive reuse as a key component of what we do.”

He explained: “We try to focus on commercial-zoned properties where there’s a bit more flexibility in terms of uses as well. Generally, it will be office, retail or F&B, but there are also alternate uses that (are) allowed, such as serviced apartments, hotel and residential. Accommodation is also a big part of what we are looking to do. Even if it’s a standalone hotel (or) serviced apartment, we would still look at those kinds of properties but ultimately our focus is around lifestyle real estate.” 

When asked whether Elevate Capital has an assets under management target, Manchharam replied that the company is currently at around S$200 million. He said: “We would like to reach S$500 million in the next 12 months and maybe S$1 billion  within 24 months. We’re here to grow organically. Our view is that there are still lots of opportunities in Singapore we can add value to.”

For instance, in Little India, there are Housing and Development Board developments coming up in the Farrer Park area, and residential sites around the Great World City area have been awarded in recent government tenders, Manchharam noted. “These new developments will increase demand for spaces in the future as the area rejuvenates further over time.”