Lian Huat Building in Tras Street fetches S$90 million, among latest sub-S$100 million Singapore deals
Lian Huat Building, an 11-storey freehold commercial property at 163 Tras Street in the Central Business District (CBD), has fetched S$90 million.
The buyer is a consortium that is said to include Apricot Capital, Oxley Holdings' deputy chief executive officer Eric Low, and co-living operator The Assembly Place.
Apricot Capital is the family office of the Teo family that founded the three-in-one coffee empire Super Group.
Separately, the family of Macau property magnate Loi Keong Kuong is understood to be selling seven retail units on the ground floor of the freehold Holland Road Shopping Centre as well as the basement car park in the same building for a total of S$84 million.
An artist's impression of Piccadilly Galleria, which will be directly connected to Farrer Park MRT station. The retail podium is expected to change hands in the mid-S$60 million range. ILLUSTRATION: CDL, MCL LAND
In another deal, City Developments Ltd (CDL) and MCL Land are understood to have found a buyer for Piccadilly Galleria, a ground-floor retail asset directly connected to Farrer Park MRT station. The buyer is said to be Koufu Group and the price, in the mid-S$60 million range.
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Industry observers suggest that Koufu, which runs food courts and other food and beverage (F&B) businesses, may operate part of the Piccadilly Galleria space and lease out the rest for recurring income. Piccadilly Galleria will have a total net lettable area of about 20,140 square feet (sq ft) across 15 units, comprising 10 units approved for F&B use, four retail units and a childcare centre.
Piccadilly Galleria is the retail podium of an integrated project that includes the 407-unit residential component Piccadilly Grand. The development is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year. It is on a site with 99-year leasehold tenure from August 2021, leaving a balance of 95 years.
Knight Frank and CBRE conducted an expression of interest exercise for Piccadilly Galleria which closed recently. The guide price was S$67.5 million , down from the S$75 million when the retail podium was first put up for sale in October 2024.
The Loi family will be exiting its investment in Holland Road Shopping Centre at a profit. PHOTO: BT FILE
At Holland Road Shopping Centre, the seven ground-floor retail units being sold by the Loi family are anchored by a CS Fresh supermarket. The units have a total strata area of 12,260 sq ft. The basement car park, with a strata area of about 16,178 sq ft, comprises 47 parking spaces and a retail unit.
The Lois will be exiting the investment at a profit. They bought the car park for S$17.33 million in 2020, and the seven retail units for slightly more than S$61 million in 2016.
Property industry sources could not identify the buyer of the Loi family's Holland Road Shopping Centre assets.
The Business Times recently reported that Loi and his family have sold five shophouses in Pagoda Street in Chinatown at prices between 5 and 20 per cent lower than what they had paid for these units a decade ago. The shophouses are on sites with about 69 years left on their leasehold tenures.
The S$90 million fetched for Lian Huat Building is slightly higher than the S$88.8 million guide price stated when ETC launched the tender for the sale of the building in May this year. The tender closed in late June.
Sitting on a corner plot with a site area of 6,668 sq ft, the building has a gross floor area (GFA) of 38,818 sq ft, reflecting an equivalent plot ratio of 5.82.
This exceeds the 5.6 plot ratio designated for the commercial-zoned site under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Master Plan 2019 and Draft Master Plan 2025. The permissible building height is up to 35 storeys.
Lian Huat Building's site area of 619.5 square metres (sq m) does not meet the minimum 1,000 sq m requirement to qualify for the CBD Incentive Scheme. Under this scheme, additional GFA is granted to encourage the conversion of older office buildings in some parts of the CBD into mixed-use projects with a wider diversity of uses – including residences and hotels.
Nevertheless, market observers said that Lian Huat Building could still be redeveloped to accommodate a design with higher ceilings and better quality of space.
Next change: co-living facility?
Alternatively, the incoming owner could refurbish the existing building, refreshing its facade and converting the inside for, say, use as serviced apartments or long-stay serviced apartments (with a minimum stay of three months). Observers suggest The Assembly Place's participation in the consortium could foreshadow the conversion of part or all of the building into a co-living facility.
Lian Huat Building is owned by Lian Huat & Company, of which 88.1 per cent is owned by Lian Huat Group and the balance 11.9 per cent by Kho Choon Keng (also known as CK Kho).
Lian Huat Group is fully owned by Lian Keng Enterprises (LKE), the ultimate holding company in the group.
In March this year, Kho became the sole owner of LKE after he bought out the shares of his step-siblings Patrick Kho (49.2 per cent) and Patricia Kho (1 per cent) and their mother Saw Gek Hua (0.8 per cent) under a settlement.
CK Kho, who had owned 49 per cent of LKE, had made an application to the High Court to wind up LKE amid a family feud. In July 2024, the High Court ordered LKE to be wound up, but granted a 30-day stay to allow the shareholders to reach a settlement.
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