Star Wars fans’ favorite building in Singapore will no longer be owned by the company that created the franchise.
Eight years after George Lucas presided over its opening, an eight-story office building modeled after a Sandcrawler – the preferred conveyance of Tatooine’s nomadic Jawas – is being sold to American private equity firm Blackstone Group. Blackstone is reportedly paying S$175 million for the building situated in the Fusionopolis tech park in One-north in a deal awaiting official approval.
It was just in 2013 that Lucas stood alongside Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for the opening of Lucasfilm’s Singapore hub built to look like the mobile fortresses glimpsed in 1977’s A New Hope and later in the prequel films as well as Disney+ series The Mandalorian. As for the Yoda statue protecting one of the site’s fountains, uncertain its future is.
The 22,500sqm campus also has retail shops and a 100-seat theatre. Offices are occupied by a variety of Disney media properties including ILM Singapore and sports network ESPN Asia-Pacific in addition to The Walt Disney Co. itself.
The structure was designed by American architect Andrew Bromberg, who also created the nearby The Star Vista building at Buona Vista.
Since Lucasfilm’s acquisition by Disney in 2012, its Star Wars films have grossed at least S$6.3 billion (US$4.8 billion) at the box office, with more expected to hit the screens in the coming years.
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