A PAIR of 5-storey buildings on Hoe Chiang Road and Lim Teck Kim Road in prime Central Business District’s (CBD) Tanjong Pagar will be launched for collective sale in mid-November after recently achieving 80 per cent consent from owners.
Built in 1959, the 2 buildings sit with their backs facing each other on 999-year leasehold land and are located at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 Hoe Chiang Road and 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 Lim Teck Kim Road. The Hoe Chiang Road site is 8,449 square feet and the Lim Teck Lim Road site is 8,450 sq ft.
Under Master Plan 2019, they are zoned for commercial use, with a gross plot ratio (GPR) of 5.6.
The amalgamation of the two sites and a piece of 1,643 sq ft remnant state land between them will take the total land area to 18,542 sq ft, forming a relatively squarish plot that PropNex says will be ideal for a Grade A office development amid the ongoing transformation in Tanjong Pagar.
The sole marketing agent said the sites will be launched together for collective sale when an ongoing exercise to verify their gross floor area (GFA) is complete. The exercise will give potential buyers further clarity on the applicable land betterment charge rate.
Currently, each of the 2 buildings comprises 5 commercial units on the ground floor and 20 residential units above.
“The buyer can transform this site into a 35-storey building to realise potential gains from the plot ratio of 5.6,” says Tracy Goh, head of investment and collective sales at PropNex, adding that the site’s 999-year leasehold tenure presents “a rare investment and redevelopment opportunity”, while its commercial zoning means there is no additional buyer’s stamp duty imposed.
“We anticipate that a 999-year leasehold Grade A office building in the CBD and near the future Greater Southern Waterfront precinct has the potential for healthy capital appreciation in the years to come.”
In addition, redevelopment projects underway in the vicinity - including Newport Tower and Keppel Towers - also provide more upside for future growth, says Goh.
The proposed redevelopment site is within walking distance to the Tanjong Pagar MRT station, as well as 2 upcoming stations, Cantonment and Prince Edward Road stations on the Circle Line.
The buyer can apply to redevelop the site into a hotel or serviced apartments, subject to the authorities’ approval.
Just next to the Hoe Chiang building, at number 15, is the former Tower Fifteen, a commercial building which was put up for sale with a guide price of S$715 million in July 2020. The site was not sold and is currently being redeveloped into a hotel by its owner, the Fragrance Group.
The freehold 39,337 sq ft site received approval for hospitality use with a GFA of about 248,483 sq ft, or an equivalent GPR of above 6.3 based on written permission issued in November 2019.
Provisional permission was then granted in early 2020, which allowed for an additional 25 per cent of GFA approved for proposed use on the site with ancillary facilities and car parks of up to 37 storeys.
This effectively increased the GFA to about 310,604 sq ft or an equivalent GPR of 7.896 under the CBD Incentive Scheme, JLL, the marketing agent for its sale, had said.