Zouk gets conditional, final extension on lease

SINGAPORE — After months of wrangling, the authorities have decided to give Zouk, one of Singapore’s most popular and longest-surviving nightspots, a final extension on its lease at Jiak Kim Street.

However, the offer comes with a caveat. If the nightclub is able to secure a new location by June 30 next year, it will be allowed to stay for a further three years, until the end of 2017, so it has sufficient time to renovate its new venue and complete its relocation. If not, the three-year extension offer would be rescinded and Zouk would be allowed to remain at Jiak Kim Street only until December next year.

In a joint statement, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said: “The decision aims to strike a balance between giving Zouk the time it requires to make alternative arrangements, and providing the residents certainty on the plans for the area by way of the final, conditional extension at Jiak Kim Street.”

When contacted, Zouk’s head of business development and public relations, Ms Sofie Chandra, said the club was grateful to the authorities for the extension and that while it has yet to secure a new venue, it will continue to look for a suitable one.

Zouk’s lease was originally slated to expire in 2012 and has already been extended twice — once until June last year and once more until June 30 this year. The Straits Times had previously reported that Mr Lincoln Cheng, who founded the club, was petitioning for a three-year lease, as it would take that amount of time for what he called a smooth transition to a new location.

The report said that while the STB and the URA had offered a plot of land at the Old Kallang Airport as an alternative venue, Mr Cheng had rejected the idea after receiving negative feedback from his customers. And though the Singapore Flyer did come across as a more suitable venue, it was not available because of its financial troubles.

With no suitable venue and no lease extension, Mr Cheng had at one time said he was left with little choice but to shut down the 23-year-old nightspot, which first opened in 1991. Over the two decades, Zouk has risen through the ranks of international dance clubs and found itself consistently among the top 10 on DJ Magazine’s list of top 100 clubs around the world, ranking even above London’s Ministry of Sound.

Widely accepted as a clubbing institution here, Zouk has seen generations of clubbers from all over the world party on its dance floors and has hosted hundreds of top international deejays and artistes. When news broke that it could be closed for good, many die-hard fans were sent into a flurry and the Save Zouk Campaign was born on June 20 this year. At last count, more than 39,000 locals and foreigners have signed the online petition, which ends on Sept 1, to appeal to the URA for a lease renewal of three years.