Wing Tai boss sells Nassim Rd bungalow for record $230m

Price psf is $2,721; party behind buyer may be Facebook co-founder: Sources

The sprawling freehold plot of 84,543 sq ft in the Nassim area can be redeveloped into five Good Class Bungalows. The existing bungalow on site has a pool and a tennis court. ST FILE PHOTO
The sprawling freehold plot of 84,543 sq ft in the Nassim area can be redeveloped into five Good Class Bungalows. The existing bungalow on site has a pool and a tennis court. ST FILE PHOTO

A Good Class Bungalow (GCB) on a sprawling freehold site in the Nassim area has been sold for a record $230 million.

The Business Times reported that the property along Nassim Road was sold by a private company owned by Wing Tai Holdings chairman Cheng Wai Keung and his wife Helen.

The price works out to $2,721 per square foot (psf) on a land area of 84,543 sq ft.

Property searches list the buyer as SG Casa Pte Ltd. A company search showed its principal activity is in the category of trustee, fiduciary and custody services firms.

However, sources suggest that the party behind the trustee company could be Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, who resides here.

In 2017, he snapped up the super penthouse at SC Global Developments' Sculptura Ardmore project for $58 million, or $5,648 psf based on the strata area of 10,269 sq ft.

Property records show the contract date for the Nassim Road sale was May 10, with the transfer of the property to the buyer registered on July 4.

In absolute price terms, this deal topples the $105.3 million paid last year by Mr Tony Tung, the Singaporean chairman of Hong Kong-based Winson Group, for a bungalow on 42,515 sq ft of freehold land, also along Nassim Road.

In terms of psf of land area, the latest transaction is among the highest achieved in a GCB area.

Last year, a record was set at $2,729.52 psf by bungalow investor George Lim, who sold a newly built bungalow he developed in Jervois Hill, albeit on a much smaller plot of 15,094 sq ft.

The $41.2 million property was bought by the daughter of Mr Alan Chong, the cash-flush founder of Wah Loon Engineering, who earlier last year had sold most of his stake in the company to a subsidiary of Euronext Paris-listed infrastructure and construction giant Vinci SA.

The Nassim Road plot that the Chengs have sold is rectangular, with a road frontage that is nearly 100m. It can be redeveloped into five bungalows. The existing bungalow on site has a pool and a tennis court.

The Chengs put the property on the market in 2013 for sale by tender, with an asking price in the region of $250 million to $300 million.

Bungalows in the 39 gazetted GCB areas are the most prestigious form of landed housing in Singapore.

They come with strict planning conditions stipulated by the Urban Redevelopment Authority to preserve their exclusivity and low-rise character.

According to reports, an entity linked to Alibaba Group Holding chairman and co-founder Jack Ma is rumoured to be developing a two-storey bungalow with a basement and swimming pool in the GCB area of Victoria Park Close.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 01, 2019, with the headline Wing Tai boss sells Nassim Rd bungalow for record $230m. Subscribe