Singapore's Marina Bay Sands gets greenlight to build 587-room fourth tower

Singapore's Marina Bay Sands (MBS) has received approval from local authorities to develop a fourth tower next to its current three towers on an empty plot that is flanked by Bayfront Avenue, Sheares Avenue, and Sheares Link, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s data for commercial projects with development approvals as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2023.

The latest approval paves the way for a new hotel and retail development. According to the data released on January 26, the new tower will have 153,100 square meters of hotel space, over 587 rooms, and 12,185 square meters of retail space. This is a discrepancy in room numbers from the 1,000 rooms announced in 2019, however, MBS declined to give more information on the matter, as reported by The Star.

Additionally, the tower is to be accompanied by a live performance arena that seats at least 15,000 spectators, as well as additional MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions) capacity and luxury retail offerings. A sky roof with a swimming pool and “other tourist attractions” will top the new tower.

The 15,000-seat arena to be built as part of MBS’ expansion.

Opened in April 2010, the IR currently has a gross floor area of 581,400 square meters, including about 1,850 rooms and suites and about 74,000 square meters of retail and dining space.

On January 24, parent company Las Vegas Sands said in its earnings presentation for the fourth quarter of 2023 that "the budget and timing of the MBS expansion are subject to revision based upon the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and other factors."

Design, development, and programming work for the fourth tower "remain ongoing, with a focus on increasing the leisure and business tourism appeal of Singapore and MBS", LVS said, as reported by the above-mentioned media.

It was reported in March 2023 that MBS had been given until April 8, 2024, to commence construction for the expansion, the second extension of a construction deadline under a development agreement LVS signed with the Singapore Tourism Board in April 2019. MBS now has until April 8, 2028, to complete its fourth tower, on land it has leased until August 2066.

 Resort World Sentosa's new waterfront development 

URA’s approval of MBS’ development plans follows the agency’s approval in the third quarter of 2023 of an expansion to Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). RWS has permission from URA to erect a hotel and retail development at Sentosa Gateway, comprising 66,995 square meters of hotel space over 700 rooms, and 21,243 square meters of retail space.

RWS’ parent company Genting Singapore said in November 2023 that the waterfront development’s construction will begin in 2024 and that its board had approved an investment of about S$6.8 billion ($5 billion) to expand and rejuvenate the integrated resort, up from the S$4.5 billion it had originally committed in April 2019.

In the first 11 months of 2023, Singapore received 12.37 million visitors, about twice the 6.31 million who visited in 2022. Annual visitorship hit a record 19.12 million in 2019, a number the country has yet to return to since the pandemic.