Story In Development

RB Capital founder Kishin RK tells Hong Xinyi a compelling tale of real estate’s next chapter

- Hong Xinyi

We meet Kishin RK on a weekday morning at InterContinental Singapore Robertson Quay, and one of the first things he does as we settle in for this interview is to lower the window shade to temper the glare of the sunlight streaming in through the windows of the conference room we are in. “I only had two hours’ sleep last night,” he tells us.

He orders a coffee, but actually, caffeine is no match for talking shop when it comes to invigorating the founder and CEO of property developer RB Capital. Once he starts laying out his plans for 2019 and beyond, it’s easy to understand why there may just not be enough hours in the day for everything he wants to accomplish.

The action-packed years that lay ahead come on the heels of a relatively quiet period of reflection—a characteristically strategic move for Kishin, who’s proven to be a shrewd player in the real estate landscape since he started his company in 2006.

“We made a conscious effort to not do anything in 2018, even though there were many opportunities,” he explains. “First, with the global uncertainty, it was good to take a year to assess where things are going. Most importantly, we wanted to plan how to position the group’s next phase of growth.”

He emerged from this year of taking stock with two main areas of focus. “Firstly, we are going to continue developing experiential real estate with a very strong story,” he says, citing the carefully curated mix of lifestyle offerings at Quayside at Robertson Quay as a successful large-scale example of this approach. Later this year, the former RB Building in Raffles Place will be redeveloped as “a pioneering concept that I believe will redefine the office sector and set a new tone for office developments. It will create a new story for the programming of offices in the future”.