The five office units at The Bencoolen, covering a total area of 4,198 sq ft, will be put up for auction on Nov 16 (Photo: EdgeProp Singapore).
SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - Five amalgamated strata-titled office units at The Bencoolen will be put on the block for $7.8 million at the next Knight Frank auction on Nov 16. An owner’s sale, the property is 99-year leasehold with 71 years remaining.
The units cover 4,198 sq ft and are being used as a single office until April 30 next year. This is the second time the property has been up for auction since Knight Frank’s previous one earlier this month.
The property is zoned for commercial and residential use, with a gross floor plot ratio of 4.2. The five office units include a reception area, conference room, general office space, meeting room, partitioned offices, pantry, and a store. They are on the same level, facing the building’s lift lobby.
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The office faces the building’s lift lobby (Photo: Knight Frank).
The office units are part of The Bencoolen, a mixed-use development on 180B Bencoolen Street in District 7. The complex includes a 19-storey residential block, a 12-storey office tower with a three-storey shopping podium, and a basement.
The development encompasses 182 apartments, 70 offices, and 95 shop units. Its amenities include swimming and wading pools, a clubhouse, a multi-purpose hall, a tennis court, saunas, and a gymnasium. The basement and the second and third storeys provide ample car-park space at reasonable rates. The development’s location at the city fringe affords its users good connectivity to key transport facilities. It is less than 500m from the Rochor and Bugis MRT Stations.
A meeting room in the office (Photo: Knight Frank).
Units at The Bencoolen have been sold for about $1,608 psf, based on caveats lodged in the last 12 months. Based on rental data in the last 12 months, units at the development typically have been rented out at between $3.40 and $6.50 psf per month (pm) or an average of $5.10 psf pm. This means that landlords typically enjoy a rental yield of 3.8%. This is higher than some of its surrounding office buildings, like Bugis Cube and Bylands Building, which have a rental yield of 3.7% and 2.9%, respectively.
According to caveats lodged with the URA, The Bencoolen had only one retail space sale this year. A 258 sq ft unit was sold for approximately $1.57 million ($6,070 psf) on April 14. The seller bought the property for $555,582 ($2,151 psf) in 2000, which means they made a profit of about $1.01 million.
The general office area (Photo: Knight Frank).
Sharon Lee, head of auctions at Knight Frank, says that getting an entire floor plate in this area is rare. She adds: “The unit is lift-facing, and the restrooms are outside the subject units, hence not included in the floor area. Moreover, the subject units are still in good condition.”