[UPDATE] GCB at Olive Road sold to grandson of late tycoon Wee Thiam Siew for $50.24 mil

The Good Class Bungalow at Olive Road that was just sold at $50.24 million ($1,800 psf) [Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore]

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - A Good Class Bungalow (GCB) sitting on a 27,909 sq ft, freehold site on Olive Road has been sold for close to $50.24 million ($1,800 psf), according to a caveat lodged on April 14. The deal was brokered by SRI.

A property title search shows that the buyer is Wee Hian Nam, one of the grandchildren of the late Wee Thiam Siew, a property tycoon and hotelier who had previously owned the 7th Storey Hotel at Rochor Road, Lion City Hotel and Hollywood Theatre at Tanjong Katong Road, which have all been sold and redeveloped.

One of the last remaining legacy assets held by the third generation of the Wee family are 25 pre-war semi-detached houses on Thiam Siew Avenue, named after their grandfather. The late Wee, who passed away in 1972, had lived in a mansion at 525 Dunman Road adjacent to the houses on Thiam Siew Avenue. In fact, he had carved out the land to build the semi-detached houses and the road that bears his name.

Over the years, the semi-detached houses have been rented out by the family for rental income. The properties were held under two entities: Wee Thiam Siew & Co and Thiam Siew Avenue Investments. Wee Thiam Siew & Co has 20 shareholders, and Thiam Siew Avenue Investments, another five shareholders, bringing the total to 25. In the event of a sale of assets, all 25 shareholders will be the beneficiaries.

Last September, the family placed 22 of the semi-detached houses along Thiam Siew Avenue for collective sale, with Savills Singapore as the exclusive marketing agency. When combined, the two freehold sites on either side of Thiam Siew Avenue totalled 263,794 sq ft. The properties are located in prime District 15.

The properties were purchased by long-standing joint-venture partners Hoi Hup Realty and Sunway Developments for $815 million last November. Including the $284 million in development charge and an estimated $39.3 million for 7% balcony space, the final price tag for the developers amounted to about $1.14 billion or a land rate of $1,440 psf per plot ratio. The joint-venture partners are said to have received planning permission for the development of an 820-unit, freehold condominium project on the site.

Wee Hian Nam, the new owner of the GCB at Olive Road in Caldecott Hill Estate, was not just one of the shareholders of Wee Thiam Siew & Co, but owner of one of the 22 houses at Thiam Siew Avenue, which was included in the sale for $815 million. He therefore received not just a share of the proceeds from the company, but the full portion of the proceeds from the sale of the property at Thiam Siew Avenue.

One could call Wee’s purchase of the GCB at Olive Road “capital recycling”. The GCB that now bears his name is an old double-storey bungalow, believed to be built sometime in the 1950s to 1960s. The house is expected to be torn down and redeveloped into a contemporary mansion.

He is in good company. Across the road is the GCB purchased by Ian Ang, the co-founder and CEO of gaming chair company Secretlab. The 29-year-old had purchased the GCB for $36 million ($1,537 psf) in June last year. It was considered the highest psf price paid for a GCB on Olive Road.

It looks like that record has been broken by Wee with his purchase of the GCB at $1,800 psf, which is now the highest transacted price on a psf basis along Olive Road. However, across the whole Caldecott Hill Estate, it is the fourth highest on a psf basis, surpassed only by three GCBs along Lornie Road that were sold at prices from $2,005 psf to $2,545 psf between January 2018 and November 2021.

In terms of absolute price, at $50.24 million, Wee’s purchase is certainly the highest for a bungalow at Caldecott Hill Estate to date, based on caveats lodged with URA Realis.

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