The Meridien Hotel at Orchard Road and its corresponding branch in Changi were formerly owned by Indonesian tycoon Hendra Rahardja through his company Richland Development. The former opened in December 1983 while the latter in May 1985. They were managed by French hospitality chain, Societe des Hotels Meridian. Unfortunately, the 1980s saw the onset of an economic recession, which also resulted in a hotel slump. Richland Development ran into financial difficulties and both hotels were subsequently placed under receivership by French bank Societe Generale. The Hotel Meridien at Orchard was bought over by Ong Beng Seng’s Hotel Properties Limited in 1988 while Far East Organization assumed ownership of the Hotel Meridien at Changi in 1989. Both hotels were renamed when their management reverted from the Le Meridien hotel group back to their parent companies. The hotel at Orchard was relaunched as the Concorde Hotel in 2008, while the one in Changi was renamed the Changi Village Hotel in 2002.Orchard Road, located in the central region of Singapore, began as a small country lane in the 1830s surrounded by nutmeg plantations, with spice gardens, pepper farms and fruit tree orchards later sprouting up in the area. Its name was thought to have been derived either from the orchards that once flanked either sides of the lane, or from a Mr. Orchid, who was a plantation owner in the area. By 1860, there were only a few nutmeg plantations left in the area following the worldwide drop in nutmeg prices. The areas surrounding Orchard Road were subsequently developed for residential purposes, with private houses and bungalows common along nearby Scotts and Tanglin Roads. One of the first major retailers to setup shop in the area was the Singapore Cold Storage, which opened a grocery shop along the street in 1905. However, major development of the area only began in the 1960s and by the 1970s, Orchard Road had been transformed into the tourist and shopping belt it is today.
