SINGAPORE – The collective sale of Shenton House has entered into private treaty negotiations, after its sale tender closed on April 11 with no bids received amid a cooling commercial property market.
Shenton House, a 99-year leasehold building in the Central Business District (CBD), was most recently put on the market on Feb 6 with a reserve price of $590 million. The property had previously been put up for collective sale in March 2012 with an indicative price of $530 million.
“We have a few expressions of interest that we are following up on,” said Mr Tan Hong Boon, executive director of capital markets at JLL, the sole marketing agent for the property. He said that interested buyers include both local and foreign developers.
The site is eligible for 25 per cent bonus gross floor area (GFA) under the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s CBD Incentive Scheme, and can be developed into a mixed-use or hotel development with a higher gross plot ratio of 14. The current plot ratio is 11.2.
The reserve price of $590 million works out to about $2,035 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr), including an estimated $446 million land betterment charge and a top-up premium for a fresh 99-year lease, said JLL previously. If an additional 7 per cent bonus balcony GFA for the residential component is taken into account, the unit land rate would be about $2,012 psf ppr.
Located in Shenton Way, Shenton House sits on a site spanning some 36,350 sq ft zoned for commercial use. It currently houses 203 commercial units and a carpark.
Several other commercial properties are still on the market as sentiment has turned cautious amid higher financing costs.
The 99-year leasehold Golden Mile Tower was launched for sale again on April 7 with a reserve price of $600 million. A previous attempt to sell the property at $650 million closed in January without a deal. The Business Times reported that the owners had entered into a private treaty negotiation period with three interested parties, but none reached the reserve price of $600 million.
In the CBD, two Tanjong Pagar buildings that were put up for sale with a reserve price of $216 million have moved on to private treaty negotiations. Their tender closed on March 22 with no bids. The site comprises two commercial buildings built in 1959 in Hoe Chiang Road and Lim Teck Kim Road. The site in Hoe Chiang Road is 8,449 sq ft, while the Lim Teck Kim Road site is 8,450 sq ft.
The last successful commercial collective sale in the CBD was that of Maxwell House in May 2021. SingHaiyi, Chip Eng Seng and Hong Kong-listed Chuan Holdings jointly won the property for $276.8 million.
Bugis Point, a 999-year commercial property at 530 North Bridge Road, is also up for sale via an expression of interest (EOI) exercise with an indicative price of $92 million. This works out to about $4,623 psf based on the total floor area of about 19,902 sq ft. The EOI exercise will close on April 18.
THE BUSINESS TIMES
