# We Toured A New Industrial Building In Aljunied With Loft Offices, Hotel-Style Interiors And Designer Common Spaces

- **Source:** Stacked Homes
- **Published:** 2026-07-02T13:05:28.000Z
- **Author:** Hailey Khoo
- **Original:** https://stackedhomes.com/81-aljunied-road-freehold-industrial-review/
- **Topics:** Commercial & Industrial, Investment & Capital Markets

## Featured rationale

Its fitted spaces from around $2,000 monthly suggest design and flexible leases can command premiums from selected SMEs, though scalability awaits testing at Abiel’s adjacent development.

## AI summary

Abiel redeveloped a freehold Aljunied B1 site acquired for $10.88 million into the nine-storey, hospitality-designed 81 Aljunied Road managed workspace completed in 2024.

## Original article

Industrial spaces in Singapore don’t often get the spotlight, and most businesses rarely have cause to show off this type of workspace.

Most industrial buildings in Singapore that are zoned for ‘Business 1’ use – which includes light manufacturing activities, media and publishing, and media production – are built to be functional first.

The design of the frontage, lobby and finishings are often at, or nearly at, the bottom of the list of expenses a developer would include while building a new B1 industrial property.

But in Aljunied, one building breaks away from this usual pattern. The property is so eye-catching that it is difficult to miss from the street, and the nine-storey-tall building is clad in corten steel and metal mesh, with a dark, curved façade that sets it apart from the tinted glass and pale tile of the industrial blocks around it.

This is 81 Aljunied Road, a rare freehold B1 industrial building that was completed in 2024. It is owned by real estate investment firm Abiel, which runs it as a managed work-and-storage space under its Space+ brand.

What makes it worth a visit is the bet this investment firm has placed behind this signature property; that hospitality-grade design can earn its keep in a category of buildings that has never really asked for it.

I spent an afternoon there to see whether that holds up for the people who actually work inside.

A plot that sat unsold for years until an investor saw a different model fit for it

The new industrial building, which is next to Aljunied MRT station on the East-West Line, is a genuinely uncommon pairing.

Most industrial land in Singapore is leasehold with short tenures, and we often only see freehold land used for residential purposes. So, a freehold B1 plot opposite an MRT station is the kind of combination that rarely comes up.

Before it was redeveloped, it had sat on the market for years before Abiel moved on it.

Before the redevelopment stood a row of single-storey freehold terraced houses at 81, 83 and 85 Aljunied Road. Source: ABIEL Property Investment Fund

Abiel acquired the plot in February 2020 for $10.88 million, which is about $720 psf on the gross floor area. It was not a vacant piece of land, and featured a row of three freehold terraced houses at 81, 83 and 85 Aljunied Road. These had been leased as worker dormitories for several years.

But the investment firm demolished the old houses to redevelop the site into the nine-storey building that stands today. The completed building has a gross floor area of 15,118 sq ft – with a net lettable area of 9,978 sq ft – and sits on a 6,047 sq ft site with a plot ratio of 2.5.

Abiel’s founder and chief executive, Maureen Li, tells me that the reason the old houses had lingered for so long on the market was because the financial model that most developers would typically reach for a plot like this just doesn’t work in this case.

“Most developers run a strata-titled model on a plot like this, and it simply doesn’t work,” she says. Rather than carve a building into strata units to sell off, Abiel keeps its assets whole and leases them as managed space, a model it had proved before embarking on its own development projects.

“We started in 2017 by leasing a single floor in an existing building. We didn’t own it, so we had no control over the exterior. We took the space at $2.30 psf and re-let it, inclusive of the common area, for $5 psf,” says Li.

She adds that after making a few adjustments to this model, the firm was able to bank on a successful track record of managing these types of properties. It was able to rake in a consistent rental income and a consistent flow of leasing demand for the properties it managed.

“That track record is what gave us the confidence to build and own our own asset rather than rent someone else’s,” she says.

The building is clad in corten steel and metal mesh, featuring a dark, curved façade, intended to mimic the New York warehouse aesthetic. Source: FDAT Architects

The architecture of the building was designed by Francis Goh, founding partner of FDAT Architects. The concept was inspired by the architectural elements that characterise the swanky New York warehouse aesthetic.

This was well within the capability of this architectural studio, which was behind the biophilic redesign of Pan Pacific Singapore and the conversion of John Portman’s Marina Bay tower into PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay. It applied the same hospitality-inspired sensibility to an industrial shell.

The pitch underneath all of this is curation. Abiel’s asset management model is to buy an undervalued asset and then build the product that is most in demand for its particular location, rather than the product that is easiest to sell, says Li.

“There’s plenty of flexible space on the market,” she says, “but we’re after a different kind of value: something that genuinely resonates with the people using it.”

For one tenant, a single photograph did what no viewing could accomplish

Josephine Ho, founder of the modern qipao label Qi Qing, in her loft-style workspace at 81 Aljunied Road.

Josephine Ho runs Qi Qing, a label making modern, contemporary qipao aimed at getting younger Singaporeans interested in this style of dress again.

She is a one-person operation and she had spent seven years in an old mixed-development unit on Upper Serangoon Road before the building was sold in a collective sale, and she was left without a retail front. What followed was a difficult year for her and her business.

She did not want to rush into the wrong space, but searching carefully had its own cost too. For nearly twelve months, she had no brick and mortar shopfront, and was instead going directly to customers and running collaborations with other brand owners simply to have somewhere to operate. She looked diligently, mostly on PropertyGuru, and for a long time nothing felt right.

Then, late one night, a single listing photo immediately caught her eye. It was a top-down picture looking into one of the units at 81 Aljunied, that showed the double-volume ceiling of one of the units for lease and a staircase dropping down from a loft.

She texted the agent there and then, viewed a unit two days later, and committed almost immediately. She says that the first time she walk through the main door of the building won her over on the spot, and reinforced her belief that she had found the right place for her business.

A representative from Abiel walked her through all six units on that floor, each with a different layout and its own details: one unit had full-height windows, another had a mirror already built in, and a neighbouring one had an opening to a small balcony-like space.

But the remark that settled it was a small one. Choosing between the three units, she was told her customers would probably want to look at themselves in the mirror more than out of the window, which made the unit with the mirror the obvious fit for a retail brand like hers.

Another tenant’s unit, showing the double-height volume and loft staircase standard to all units.

Working inside it: a building that doubles as a film set

But the unit that she settled on is smaller than her previous space, and Ho is candid that it took some time for her to adjust to the space. On the other hand, she remarks that the design of the building more than makes up for the smaller space.

The lower floor of her unit is where the qipao she makes are displayed and customers browse. The loft above is where the quieter, behind-the-scenes work happens, and it is where she most likes to be, particularly when the late-afternoon sun shines through at around five or six o’clock.

Sometimes, she sits on this loft staircase for her meals. That’s not a quality that a square-footage comparison would capture, and it is the part of the building that a tenant pays for without quite being charged for it.

Beyond her own unit, the building itself earns its keep for many other creative businesses like hers. Ho shoots her brand’s content within the building rather than hiring external studio locations, and says the lift lobby, the corridors, and the staircases read on camera like a hotel or a film set. She even shares that some customers have asked which hotel she does her product shoots at.

For a one-person fashion label where photography is a crucial part of the marketing process, a building that doubles as a backdrop is not a soft perk. It removes a recurring cost that creative businesses like hers usually face. It is this type of value that Abiel sought to offer its tenants when it was designing this building.

The common area on each floor, complete with full-height windows, a botanical mural and a lounge corner, which Josephine Ho calls her “husband corner”. Source: FDAT Architects

She has also shaped corners of the building around her customers’ experience. One spot in the common area on her floor she calls the “husband corner”, where the partners of browsing customers can make a hot drink, sit with a snack and wait. It is a small, homely touch, but it is enabled by a landlord that gave her the space and the fit-out to do it.

The address does the wayfinding

For many small local businesses and start-ups, the location of 81 Aljunied is a significant contributor to their nascent market presence. Aljunied MRT station, on the East-West Line, sits directly across the road, close enough that the building is visible from the train tracks.

The building is so recognisable that rather than give detailed directions, Ho tells customers to look for the brown building by the road. And all of them have been able to find their way there.

At her old Upper Serangoon premises, the nearest station was a couple of bus stops away, and parking was insufficient. Here, a multi-storey car park sits next door. For a business whose customers come specifically to try on and buy clothes, the ease of finding a convenient parking spot is a game changer.

The shared spaces are where the curation reveals itself

The building runs as a managed workspace, with six units to a floor sharing one meeting room, a pantry and common areas. Ho makes most use of the second-floor event space, which comes with full-height windows, an attached toilet, a pantry and the basic furniture and equipment already in place. For someone who used to haul her products to a borrowed venue for each event, the ability to host on site is one of the clearer day-to-day gains she names.

This is where Abiel’s design intent is most deliberate. Li says the firm tried to anticipate what tenants might not want to pay for directly but still need, such as a pantry and common spaces, and provide it as part of the offer.

“Those small touches are what lift the experience,” she says. The thinking extends to the types of tenants it is focused on reaching out to. SMEs make up the majority of the tenants there and are the growing segment in Singapore’s commercial and industrial market, but Li argues they are often poorly served when they move into a B1 space.

This is because the frontage of the building is frequently unimpressive, which shapes the first impression that their own clients may form. And in co-working spaces, their branding is often not displayed at all. “That’s the gap 81 Aljunied Road was built to close,”says Li.

Qi Qing’s branding marks the entrance to Josephine Ho’s unit at 81 Aljunied Road.

Most of the tenants at 81 Aljunied are small local businesses and start ups in the e-commerce, new media, and technology sectors that utilise some form of basic production. Most are image-conscious businesses that host their own clients on site, where presentation counts for as much as the rent.

However, Abiel does its own due diligence on prospective tenants, who must also qualify for B1 industrial use, and tries to avoid filling the building with first-year startups. Ho’s two years in the building and her decision to extend on a two-plus-two lease are the kind of retention that the model is aimed at.

Why design, not yield, is the pitch to investors

At 81 Aljunied Road, average rents run at around $8 psf a month, and Abiel says the building is now fully let, with a waiting list of about six tenants in the wings.

That is a clear premium compared to other B1 spaces nearby, such as industrial buildings in Aljunied and Lorong 23 Geylang where average rents are about $2.60 psf to $2.85 psf a month, based on CommercialGuru listings.

Part of that rental difference is a size effect, since larger floorplates usually command a lower psf to keep the total quantum manageable. Those listings are also for bare, larger units, rather than the smaller, fully fitted, and serviced spaces at 81 Aljunied Road.

There, a private unit starts from around $2,000 a month for a team of up to five, with the fit-out, Wi-Fi, and shared amenities bundled into the rent, and no separate upfront or recurring costs. Leases can also run as short as six months, a flexibility that is hard to come by on a conventional B1 tenancy.

For a small business, that folds away the fit-out bill and the setup time a bare B1 unit would otherwise carry, and it lowers the commitment of taking the space in the first place.

Maureen Li is the CEO and Founder of ABIEL Property Investment Fund, and a MAS-licensed fund manager. Source: ABIEL Property Investment Fund

For a real estate investment firm, the more telling claim is where its investment returns originate. Abiel’s current portfolio has an approximate value of $130 million spread across various properties in Singapore, including 81 Aljunied Road and its conservation shophouses in Geylang and Kampong Glam.

Li comments that in a yield-constrained market, design is one of the few remaining sources of genuine differentiation, and that Abiel’s assets are hard to replace precisely because they are difficult to copy.

It is worth being clear-eyed about what that does and does not prove. A design-led building that commands a premium and holds a tenant like Ho for two years is a proven result, not a brochure claim. But Ho is close to the ideal occupant for this product: a design-literate, content-driven creative for whom the building is part of the marketing, not just the rent.

The harder test is whether the same premium holds across a more diverse spread of SME tenants, the logistics-leaning and the unglamorous, for whom a film-set corridor is a nicety rather than a business input.

Abiel’s tenant selectivity is partly an answer to that, but selectivity is easier to maintain in one boutique building than across a portfolio. Li is candid that the model has limits she will not cross: Abiel buys only freehold properties for now, and she is openly undecided on 99-year leasehold assets, on the view that lease decay is still a decay of asset value and she has stakeholders’ interests to protect.

A second building, a second fund, and the same property-first logic

81 Aljunied Road is not meant to stand alone within the firm’s investment portfolio here. Abiel has acquired the adjacent freehold site at 84, 86 and 88 Lorong 23 Geylang, where the construction for a second building is already underway.

FDAT is designing it not as a copy but as a refined iteration: the two blocks will be linked by overhead bridges and a 24-hour public pedestrian path, anchored by a central garden plaza, with a cafe in the plaza under consideration, subject to URA approval.

The new block has larger floor plates, so a tenant can expand across the development, keeping front-of-house in one block and back-of-house in the other while drawing on the amenities in both.

There are also plans to expand its capital. The Abiel Real Estate Fund, the firm’s first investment vehicle, launched in 2020 as a closed-end platform that holds each asset in its own structure.

A second fund is meant to be additive rather than a repeat, Li says, bringing the fund and financing side in-house so Abiel operates as a self-contained ecosystem, with acquisitions ongoing. “Abiel leads with the property and what maximises its value; operations follow,” Li says.

She adds that the firm is working on a new concept that may be unveiled near the end of this year, and this could sit somewhere between the 81 Aljunied Road workspace model and co-living.

Li is tight-lipped about the specifics for now, but is clear about the reasoning: most operators start with an operating concept and then look for a building to house it, while Abiel acquires something of hard-to-replace value first and then works out how to make the most of it. On that basis, she says, the firm has no interest in adding another undifferentiated co-living product to a market that she believes has no room to accommodate.

Based on my visit to the property during a single afternoon, and hearing about the experience of one tenant who has been there two years, 81 Aljunied Road demonstrates that design can lift a B1 industrial building well beyond the utilitarian norm. For the right occupant it is much more valuable compared to a conventional industrial unit.

Looking ahead, time will tell how this concept can grow to meet the needs of other tenants in the market, beyond the design-driven tenant the building was so clearly made for. The clearest test will be the next building: whether the same product, scaled up and aimed at larger SMEs, can hold its premium when the tenant on the other side of the lease is paying for space rather than a backdrop.

## Chinese translation

> Translation model: grok_cli

### 我们实地探访阿裕尼一栋新工业大厦：阁楼式办公室、酒店风室内与设计师打造的公共空间

走进阿裕尼路81号：一栋阿裕尼自由保有（freehold）B1大厦，被重建为酒店风工作空间，涵盖设计、租金、租户体验，以及Abiel对隔壁第二栋楼的规划。

新加坡的工业空间很少成为焦点，多数企业也鲜少有理由对外展示这类工作场所。

新加坡多数划作“Business 1”（B1）用途的工业大厦——涵盖轻工业制造、媒体与出版、媒体制作等——建造时往往以功能为先。

门面、大堂与饰面的设计，通常排在开发商新建B1工业物业时开支清单的末尾，甚至接近末尾。

但在阿裕尼（Aljunied），有一栋楼打破了这一常态。这栋物业外观极为醒目，从街上很难忽视：九层高的大厦外覆耐候钢（corten steel）与金属网，深色弧形立面，与周边工业楼宇常见的茶色玻璃与浅色瓷砖截然不同。

这就是阿裕尼路81号（81 Aljunied Road），一栋罕见的自由保有（freehold）B1工业大厦，于2024年竣工。业主为房地产投资公司Abiel，并以旗下Space+品牌将其作为托管式办公与仓储空间运营。

值得一访的原因，在于这家投资公司对这栋标志性物业的押注：在从未真正要求过“待客级”设计的建筑品类里，酒店级设计仍能收回成本、创造价值。

我花了一个下午实地考察，想看看对真正在此工作的人而言，这个判断是否成立。

一块闲置多年的地块，直到投资者看到另一种契合的模式

这栋新工业大厦毗邻东西线阿裕尼地铁站，这样的组合确实少见。

新加坡多数工业用地为年期较短的租赁保有（leasehold），自由保有土地往往多见于住宅用途。因此，一块正对地铁站的自由保有B1地块，是极少出现的组合。

在重建之前，这块地在市场上闲置多年，直到Abiel出手。

重建前，阿裕尼路81、83与85号是一排单层自由保有排屋。来源：ABIEL Property Investment Fund

Abiel于2020年2月以1,088万新元购入该地块，约合总楼面面积每平方英尺720新元。当时并非空地，而是阿裕尼路81、83与85号的三栋自由保有排屋，多年来曾租作外籍工人宿舍。

投资公司拆除旧屋，将地块重建为如今的九层大厦。竣工后总楼面面积为15,118平方英尺，净可出租面积为9,978平方英尺，坐落于6,047平方英尺的地块上，容积率为2.5。

Abiel创始人兼首席执行官Maureen Li告诉我，旧屋之所以长期滞销，是因为多数开发商对这类地块惯用的财务模型在这里根本行不通。

“多数开发商会对这样的地块走分层出售（strata-titled）模式，但这根本行不通，”她说。Abiel不把大楼切割成分层单位出售，而是保持资产完整，作为托管空间出租——这一模式在公司启动自建项目前已得到验证。

“我们2017年起步时，是在既有大楼里租下一整层。我们并不拥有大楼，因此无法控制外观。我们以每平方英尺2.30新元租入，再连同公共区域以每平方英尺5新元转租，”Li说。

她补充，在对该模式做了若干调整后，公司得以依靠管理这类物业的成功记录：能带来稳定租金收入，以及持续的租赁需求。

“正是这份成绩单，给了我们信心去建造并拥有自己的资产，而不是去租别人的，”她说。

大厦外覆耐候钢与金属网，深色弧形立面意在呼应纽约仓库美学。来源：FDAT Architects

建筑由FDAT Architects创始合伙人Francis Goh设计，概念灵感来自彰显纽约时髦仓库美学的建筑元素。

这对这家建筑事务所而言驾轻就熟：他们曾主导新加坡泛太平洋酒店（Pan Pacific Singapore）的亲自然改造，以及将John Portman设计的滨海湾塔楼改建为PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay。他们把同样的酒店灵感美学，应用到了工业外壳上。

这一切背后的主张是“策展”。Li说，Abiel的资产管理模式是买入被低估的资产，再为特定区位打造最有需求的产品，而不是最容易卖掉的产品。

“市场上灵活空间并不少，”她说，“但我们追求的是另一种价值：真正能与使用者产生共鸣的东西。”

对一位租户而言，一张照片完成了看房都做不到的事

现代旗袍品牌启清（Qi Qing）创始人Josephine Ho，在她位于阿裕尼路81号的阁楼式工作空间内。

Josephine Ho运营启清（Qi Qing），一个制作现代当代旗袍的品牌，旨在让年轻新加坡人重新对这种服装风格产生兴趣。

她是一人公司，此前在上实龙岗路（Upper Serangoon Road）一栋旧式综合发展项目单位经营了七年，直到该楼集体出售（collective sale），她失去了零售门面。接下来的一年，对她和生意都异常艰难。

她不愿仓促租下不合适的空间，但仔细寻觅本身也有代价。近十二个月里，她没有实体店面，只能直接对接顾客，并与其他品牌主合作，只为有地方运转。她主要在PropertyGuru上认真搜寻，很长时间都没有找到合适的。

直到某天深夜，一张挂牌照片立刻抓住了她的目光。那是俯拍阿裕尼路81号某单位内部的图片，展示了待租单位的挑高双层空间，以及从阁楼向下延伸的楼梯。

她当场给中介发了信息，两天后看房，几乎立刻决定承租。她说，第一次走进大楼正门就当场被打动，也更坚信自己为生意找到了合适的地方。

Abiel的代表带她走完该层全部六个单位，每个布局与细节都不同：一个单位有落地窗，另一个已内置镜子，相邻一个则开向一小块类似阳台的空间。

但最终让她定下来的，是一句很小的话。在三个单位之间选择时，有人告诉她：顾客大概更想照镜子看自己，而不是望向窗外——于是带镜子的单位对她这样的零售品牌来说是显而易见的选择。

另一位租户的单位，展示所有单位标配的双层挑高与阁楼楼梯。

在其中工作：一栋兼具片场功能的大厦

她最终选定的单位比以前的空间更小，Ho坦言自己花了一些时间才适应。另一方面，她表示大楼的设计远不止弥补了面积的缩减。

单位下层用于展示她制作的旗袍、供顾客浏览；上方阁楼则是更安静的幕后工作区，也是她最喜欢待的地方，尤其是傍晚五六点阳光照进来时。

有时，她会坐在阁楼楼梯上用餐。这不是用面积对比就能捕捉的品质，也是租户付出租金却未必被单独计价的那一部分。

在她自己的单位之外，整栋楼也为许多像她一样的创意型企业创造价值。Ho在大楼内拍摄品牌内容，而不是外租摄影棚，并表示电梯大堂、走廊与楼梯在镜头里读起来像酒店或片场。她甚至分享说，有顾客问她产品拍摄是在哪家酒店进行的。

对一个以摄影为营销关键环节的一人时装品牌而言，能兼作背景的大楼不是软性福利，而是省下创意型企业通常要反复承担的成本。Abiel在设计这栋楼时，正是希望向租户提供这类价值。

每层公共区域配有落地窗、植物主题壁画与休息角，Josephine Ho称之为她的“老公角”（husband corner）。来源：FDAT Architects

她也围绕顾客体验，塑造了大楼的一些角落。她所在楼层公共区域有一处被她称作“老公角”的地方，陪逛的伴侣可以泡热饮、吃点零食并等候。这是细小而温馨的触点，但有赖于房东提供空间与装修条件才得以实现。

地址本身就完成了寻路

对许多本地小型企业与初创公司而言，阿裕尼路81号的区位，对其初步市场能见度贡献显著。东西线阿裕尼地铁站就在马路对面，近到从铁轨上就能看见这栋楼。

大楼辨识度极高，Ho不必给详细路线，只让顾客找路边那栋棕色建筑，他们都能找到。

在以前上实龙岗的旧址，最近的车站还要坐几站巴士，停车位也不足。这里隔壁就是多层停车场。对顾客专程前来试穿、买衣的生意来说，方便找到停车位是游戏规则的改变。

共享空间最能体现策展意图

大楼以托管式工作空间运营，每层六个单位共享一间会议室、茶水间与公共区域。Ho最常使用二楼活动空间：有落地窗、附设厕所、茶水间，以及已就位的基本家具与设备。对过去每次活动都要把货品搬到借用场地的人而言，能在现场办活动，是她点名的最清晰日常收益之一。

这也是Abiel设计意图最刻意之处。Li说，公司试图预判租户未必愿意单独付费、却仍然需要的东西——例如茶水间与公共空间——并作为整体配套提供。

“正是这些细小触点提升了体验，”她说。这一思路也延伸到它重点触达的租户类型。中小企业（SME）构成当地租户主体，也是新加坡工商与工业市场中的成长板块，但Li认为，当它们搬进B1空间时，往往服务不足。

原因是大楼门面常常不起眼，影响客户形成的第一印象；而在共享办公里，它们的品牌往往根本无法展示。“这正是阿裕尼路81号要填补的缺口，”Li说。

启清的品牌标识标示着Josephine Ho在阿裕尼路81号单位的入口。

阿裕尼路81号的多数租户是本地小型企业与初创公司，集中在电商、新媒体与科技等会用到某种基础制作的领域。多数是重视形象的企业，会在现场接待自己的客户，呈现与租金同样重要。

不过，Abiel会对潜在租户做尽职调查，对方也必须符合B1工业用途资格，并尽量避免把大楼填满成立第一年的初创公司。Ho已在大楼待了两年，并决定以“两加两”租约续租，正是该模式所追求的留存类型。

为何向投资者推销的是设计，而非收益率

在阿裕尼路81号，平均租金约为每月每平方英尺8新元；Abiel表示大楼现已满租，等候名单上约有六名租户。

相较附近其他B1空间——例如阿裕尼与芽笼第23巷（Lorong 23 Geylang）一带工业大厦，根据CommercialGuru挂牌，平均租金约每月每平方英尺2.60至2.85新元——这是明显溢价。

租金差异部分来自面积效应：更大的楼面通常以更低的每平方英尺价格，把总价控制在可承受范围。那些挂牌也多为毛坯、面积更大的单位，而非阿裕尼路81号这类更小、全装修且提供服务的空间。

在那里，私人单位起价约每月2,000新元，可容纳最多五人团队，装修、Wi-Fi与共享配套已打包进租金，没有额外的前期或经常性费用。租约也可短至六个月——这种灵活性在常规B1租约中很难得。

对小企业而言，这省去了毛坯B1单位本来要承担的装修费用与筹备时间，也降低了最初承租的承诺门槛。

Maureen Li是ABIEL Property Investment Fund的首席执行官兼创始人，也是持有新加坡金融管理局（MAS）牌照的基金经理。来源：ABIEL Property Investment Fund

对房地产投资公司而言，更能说明问题的，是其投资回报从何而来。Abiel当前投资组合估值约1.3亿新元，分布于新加坡多处物业，包括阿裕尼路81号，以及其在芽笼与甘榜格南（Kampong Glam）的保育店屋。

Li表示，在收益率受限的市场里，设计是少数仍能带来真正差异化的来源之一；Abiel的资产难以被替代，正是因为它们难以复制。

有必要清醒看待这证明了什么、又没有证明什么。一栋以设计为导向、能取得溢价并留住像Ho这样租户两年的大楼，是已验证的结果，而非宣传册上的说辞。但Ho接近这一产品的理想住户：设计素养高、内容驱动的创意从业者，对她而言大楼是营销的一部分，而不只是租金。

更难的考验是：同样的溢价，能否在更多样的中小企业租户中成立——那些偏物流、不那么“光鲜”的业态，对它们而言片场式走廊是锦上添花，而不是经营投入。

Abiel对租户的选择性，部分是对此的回应；但在一栋精品楼里维持选择标准，要比在整个投资组合中容易。Li坦言模式有她不会逾越的界限：目前Abiel只买入自由保有物业；对99年租赁保有资产她仍公开犹豫，认为租约衰减仍是资产价值的衰减，而她有责任保护利益相关方的利益。

第二栋楼、第二只基金，以及同一套物业优先逻辑

阿裕尼路81号并不打算在公司本地投资组合中孤立存在。Abiel已购入相邻的自由保有地块——芽笼第23巷84、86与88号，第二栋楼的施工已在进行。

FDAT的设计不是简单复制，而是精炼迭代：两栋楼将由空中连廊与24小时公共步行通道相连，以中央花园广场为锚点，广场内是否设咖啡馆视市区重建局（URA）审批而定。

新楼拥有更大的楼面，租户可在整个项目中扩张：前台功能放在一栋，后台放在另一栋，同时共享两边的配套。

公司也有扩大资本的计划。Abiel Real Estate Fund是其首个投资载体，于2020年以封闭式平台形式推出，每项资产各自独立架构持有。

Li说，第二只基金意在叠加而非重复，把基金与融资端内化，使Abiel作为自洽生态运转，收购也在持续进行。“Abiel以物业及其价值最大化为先导，运营跟进，”Li说。

她补充，公司正打磨一个可能在今年年底前后亮相的新概念，位置或许介于阿裕尼路81号的工作空间模式与共享居住（co-living）之间。

目前Li对细节守口如瓶，但理由很清楚：多数运营商先有运营概念，再找楼来装；而Abiel先买下难以替代的价值，再想方设法把它用足。基于此，她说公司无意再向她认为已无容纳空间的市场，塞进又一个无差异化的共享居住产品。

基于我一个下午的实地探访，以及听一位已在此两年的租户讲述体验，阿裕尼路81号表明：设计可以把B1工业大厦提升到远超实用主义常态的水平。对合适的使用者而言，它比常规工业单位有价值得多。

展望未来，这一概念能否成长到满足市场上其他租户的需求——而不只是这栋楼显然为之量身打造的设计驱动型租户——仍需时间检验。最清晰的考验将是下一栋楼：同样的产品在扩大规模、面向更大中小企业时，当租约另一端的租户付的是空间钱而不是“背景板”钱，它是否仍能守住溢价。