Ashish Manchharam’s next big property bet after 21 Carpenter: Singapore’s ageing buildings

ASHISH MANCHHARAM KNOWS A LOT about conservation shophouses.

He’d spent a decade looking for these gems – buying, reconfiguring and refurbishing the properties, before repositioning them as lifestyle destinations with curated tenants and F&B concepts. One of them – boutique hotel 21 Carpenter – went on to win Design of the Year at the President’s Design Award 2025.

“But there are always challenges with such buildings because as soon as you knock a wall, you’re going to find things you didn’t expect,” says Manchharam, whose career started at JLL. By the time he left the property consultancy 12 years later, he was its South-east Asia head of investments and top investment sales broker.

Manchharam went on to set up 8M Real Estate with institutional investors and others in 2014, zeroing in on shophouses in the central district. He had noticed how well-located old buildings in other major cities appealed to independent restaurateurs.

As a child, he also spent a few years living in one of his family’s shophouses in Kampong Glam’s Bussorah Street. He played football around Haji Lane, the buildings of which “were just warehouses”, and saw how the neighbourhood was gentrified into an enclave of cafes and indie boutiques.

By the time he sold his stake in 8M and stepped down in September 2023, the business had chalked up assets under management of S$1.5 billion, with 80 shophouses across 28 investments.

“I like to grow companies. I like the challenges that come with that and figuring out ways to overcome them. And there’s always a way.”

In ferreting out winners, location is No 1, followed by deciphering what will work in a building to make it more appealing than the next. But how does he know if the tenants he selects will fly?

“I don’t,” he says with a laugh. “Some of it is gut feel, but a lot of the time, you’ll have to think about the type of demand based on what’s around you.

“And there are always bits you have to chop and change, but what we’ve learnt is to not just go for the highest rent. Go for the quality operator because they’ll pay you in the end.”

A year-and-a-half ago, the food lover also started a joint venture with Hong Kong’s Black Sheep Restaurants to grow its portfolio – which includes Australian ice cream brand Gelato Messina – in Singapore.

Moving on

Don’t mistake Manchharam’s penchant for transforming buildings from rundown to ravishing as being merely motivated by nostalgia. Part of the reason he left 8M was because the numbers were no longer making as much sense to him, as the market had hit a plateau and yields were getting compressed.

But the 48-year-old is still drawn to revitalising existing buildings rather than constructing new ones. “Adaptive reuse is almost inevitable because redevelopment is so expensive and the downtime is long.”

He started 8M as a two-person outfit, and did it all over again in 2024 with real estate investment and asset management firm Elevate Capital Group, onboarding the same staff he first hired at 8M.

This time, he wants to apply his expertise to the non-shophouse segment.

“It would be placemaking, refurbishment of both hardware and software, and the curation of tenants, but also the integration of operational aspects into the investment.”

Elevate’s maiden project is the former Stamford Court, a nondescript, 30-year-old building at the corner of Stamford Road and Hill Street. It’s better remembered for its dated, maroon granite and glass facade and distinctive clock tower.

But Manchharam saw something else – the potential to shape Singapore’s urban living future right in the heart of town, with a lifestyle destination melding heritage, hospitality, culture and community.

After a S$25 million overhaul, the property – which he acquired for S$132 million in partnership with PGIM Real Estate – reopened this month as Stamford Place.

The key occupiers are his new boutique serviced apartment brand APT, and hospitality-inspired workspaces under The Great Room by Industrious.

They are supported by an in-house bistro positioned as a lively social space, as well as several casual-leaning F&B concepts he found suitable for the neighbourhood.

“We’re trying to be at the forefront of that adaptive reuse space, and hopefully, Stamford Place can be a showcase of what can be done.”

His second project is 51 Merchant Road, a four-storey block annexed to two rows of conserved 1930s shophouses. Most of its space will be taken up by global marketing and media company Omnicom, with placemaking opportunities on the ground floor.

“We’re looking at creating a wellness-driven concept that combines services like ice baths and gyms to leverage Union Square, the upcoming mixed-used development next door.”

Worldly wise

Manchharam’s knack for deals is due in part to his years of experience at JLL, but also an education that literally went beyond borders. He studied at Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) at Coleman Street, but at 11, was shipped off to a boarding school in Bath, the UK, to gain a British education.

He was soon making his way there himself. The journey was long – via the Middle East – and there were no mobile phones, so his parents heard from him only when he had arrived at the school.

Still, it was “a great experience”. Thereafter, he headed to the US – “because you can learn from both” – and got his degree in economics and political science at New York’s University of Rochester.

“It wasn’t just education but also other things, like learning to be street smart, which is hard to pick up in Singapore,” says Manchharam, who is married to life coach Shireena, with whom he has a 16-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son.

His father, a chartered accountant who worked for over 30 years at Sime Darby, is in turn the descendant of Gujarati immigrants who came to Singapore in 1908.

They were textile merchants savvy enough to purchase Kampong Glam shophouses to operate their retail stores. The family today owns “more than 10” of these, which are rented out.

“In my family, there’s the entrepreneurial part, or you could also go down this corporate path. But while you want to do your own thing, maybe the best way to learn is at someone else’s expense,” he quips.

In his case, his time at JLL paid off handsomely. He travelled extensively while working at its Singapore and Hong Kong offices, made many contacts and built lasting relationships. It was also where he learnt to strategise and institutionalise property investments.

Still, he admits that leaving his cushy job to start 8M was scary. “I joked with my former boss that if it doesn’t work out, I’m going to call him!”

Of course, Manchharam – a Liverpool Football Club fan who plays “a lot of padel” – is constantly on the lookout for the next old building to acquire. And something is definitely cooking, but he is coy when probed.

“We want to grow our business, which is acquiring assets. So, yes, we will do something in the next six months.”

Elevate is also building its investor pool, which currently comprises mainly institutional players and some family offices.

Hospitality, though, is definitely an area he’s keen to delve deeper into, with APT being the vehicle. “If it’s successful and draws people like we think it will, then we may want to replicate it and potentially spin it off.”

He also sees lots of “interesting opportunities”, including collective sales of strata title commercial or even residential buildings.

“Why not refurbish rather than redevelop en bloc sites? Many today would probably be maxed out in terms of gross floor area, anyway. And when you’ve been dealing with shophouses from the 1800s, a 30-year-old building really isn’t that old.”

Photography: Darren Gabriel Leow
Fashion direction; CK
Grooming: Nikki Fu
Location: APT at Stamford Place