Singapore Offering Reduced Rent in Prime Locations for Private Museums

Adam Mejendie of Bloomberg.com reports that Singapore is offering prime government buildings at reduced rates to encourage the establishment of private museums. Mejendie reports the rents are 20-30 percent below the open market rates.

Mejendie states Singapore is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to promote itself as the region's arts and tourism center by adding new museums, two casino resorts and sports events like last month's first Formula 1 night race.

The three sites are a four-story school building with 5,200 square meters at 222 Queen Street, close to the Singapore Art Musem , also a former catholic school; and two smaller buildings in the Tanglin Village area, a former army campus that has been converted into a cluster of restaurants and bars.

The article states many collectors have property stored in warehouses, and only take a few valuable pieces out at a time for personal use. The government hopes to encourage more collectors to exhibit their collections.

An interesting and worthy joint venture to promote wealthy private collectors to open museums in order to ensure the availability of material culture.

To read the full Bloomberg article, click HERE.