A section of Market Street will become a 1,000 sq m public park, with work beginning on Feb 17.

With the section to be permanently closed from that date, motorists driving along Church Street and heading to Chulia Street should use D’Almeida Street, after the Cecil Street junction, the Land Transport Authority said yesterday.

The move is part of efforts by the Government in collaboration with developer CapitaLand to make the Central Business District greener and more pedestrian-friendly. The new park is being built in tandem with the adjacent CapitaSpring, a 51-storey office tower at 88 Market Street, where the Golden Shoe Car Park used to be.

The site also previously housed the popular Market Street Food Centre. The stallholders will be at the second and third levels of the new building’s podium when it is completed. They are now at an interim food centre in Cross Street. The park will be connected to places such as the Singapore River, Boat Quay, Esplanade Park and the Telok Ayer conservation area.

As part of the redevelopment, an area that includes Market, Malacca and Phillip streets will get widened footpaths, added greenery and new paths that will be part of the Central Area cycling network.

There will also be sheltered linkways between developments in the area.

CapitaSpring will be one of the tallest and greenest buildings in Raffles Place once completed in 2021. It will feature the Green Oasis, a four-storey-high botanical promenade between the Grade A office floors and a modern serviced residence, as well as Singapore’s highest urban farm and a fine-dining restaurant on its 280m-high rooftop.

One of CapitaSpring’s anchor tenants will be US investment banking giant JP Morgan.

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