Freehold two-storey showroom unit at Paya Lebar 178 for sale at $6.2 mil

Paya Lebar 178 is situated in the Ubi Industrial Estate and is close to two MRT stations - MacPherson Interchange and Tai Seng MRT Station. (Picture: SRI)

A two-storey showroom unit at Paya Lebar 178 will be on the block at Singapore Realtor’s Inc’s (SRI) upcoming auction on Dec 14. An owner’s sale, this 3,218 sq ft unit will have an opening bid of $6.2 million, which translates to $1,927 psf.

This corner unit stands out at street level, providing a unique dual frontage visible to vehicles on both Paya Lebar Road and Ubi Avenue 3. The ground-floor space is seamlessly connected to the upper floor.

Mok Sze Sze, SRI’s managing partner for auctions, says these attributes position the unit as an ideal option for an owner-occupier seeking prime showroom space or an investor looking to leverage the property’s visibility and versatile use for leasing. The unit will be sold without an existing tenancy.

“The appeal of this unit is heightened as it can attain an F&B licence, subject to approvals. It is increasingly rare to find commercial showroom units available on the resale market that are freehold,” she adds.

The unit is well suited as a showroom with ample interior space, an efficient layout, and excellent street visibility. (Picture: SRI)

Paya Lebar 178 is a seven-storey building at 178 Paya Lebar Road, completed in 2004. The property is zoned for “Business 1” (B1) use under the latest URA Master Plan. Under URA guidelines, B1 industrial buildings can accommodate printing and publishing, food industry packaging, e-commerce businesses, and showrooms.

The development is situated in the Ubi Industrial Estate and is close to two MRT stations — MacPherson Interchange MRT Station on the Downtown and Circle Lines and Tai Seng MRT Station on the Circle Line. Noteworthy buildings in the vicinity include Oxley Bizhub at Ubi Road, UB.One on Ubi Avenue, Breadtalk IHQ Mall on Tai Seng Road, Vertex at Ubi Avenue 3, and JTC’s flatted Kampong Ubi Industrial Estate factories.

Only a handful of industrial buildings in this area have a freehold tenure. Most, such as Oxley Bizhub, UB.One and Vertex typically are leasehold properties with a 60-year tenure. Based on resale caveats tabulated by EdgeProp Singapore, prices at Paya Lebar 178 have steadily increased in the past few years, from about $788 psf in November 2014 to about $1,170 psf in April.

Paya Lebar 178 is a seven-storey building at 178 Paya Lebar Road. It is zoned for “Business 1” (B1) use under the latest URA Master Plan. (Map: EdgeProp Singapore)

There have been two resale transactions at Paya Lebar 178 this year. In April, a 1,410 sq ft unit on the second floor was sold for $1.65 million ($1,170 psf). In February, three adjacent units with a combined area of 6,071 sq ft on the seventh floor were sold for about $6.18 million ($1,019 psf).

Paya Lebar 178 commands a higher average rent of about $2.86 psf per month (psf pm) compared to its neighbours Oxley Bizhub ($2.49 psf pm) and Oxley Bizhub 2 ($2.65 psf pm). Only AZ @ Paya Lebar, a freehold industrial building on Paya Lebar Road, has higher rents, topping the list with an average rent of $4.06 psf pm.

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