Updated, Dec 9, 2017, 8.15 p.m., to change land area of 27 to 33 New Bridge Road to 7,042 sq ft, instead of as previously published. A quote attributed to JLL was also modified.
The first phase of a portfolio of shophouses and a commercial building was put up for sale via a public tender exercise by their sole marketing agent JLL on Dec 5.
Comprising nine shophouses and a five-storey commercial building, the properties are located near the Singapore River — either within the Boat Quay Conservation Area or at a section of New Bridge Road that falls between Boat Quay and Clarke Quay. According to JLL, the buyer can acquire the assets individually or collectively. The tender for all nine properties will close on Jan 24, 2018.
Clemence Lee, associate director of capital markets at JLL, says the value of shophouses has been rising over the years owing to their conservation and heritage status and unique architecture.
Boat Quay Conservation Area cluster
The properties in the Boat Quay Conservation Area include a three-storey shophouse at 61 Boat Quay as well as a two-storey shophouse at 77 Boat Quay. Both come with waterfront views. The other properties in the area are 17, 45 and 46 Circular Road, which are all three-storey shophouses with an F&B component on the ground level. All five shophouses come with a 999-year lease and are fully tenanted.
Assets in the shophouse sector are tightly held, which means “opportunities of the profile and scale” of the cluster of properties at Boat Quay are considered “extremely rare”, notes JLL’s Lee. The properties in this cluster are within walking distance of the Raffles Place MRT interchange and the Clarke Quay MRT stations.
The two shophouses at 61 and 77 Boat Quay sit on land plots measuring 947 and 1,530 sq ft, respectively. According to JLL, the shophouse at 61 Boat Quay has a guide price of $9 million ($3,642 psf), based on its gross floor area of 2,471 sq ft. Meanwhile, 77 Boat Quay, which has a GFA of 3,702 sq ft, sports an indicative price tag of $12.6 million ($3,404 psf).
The shophouse at 17 Circular Road has an indicative price of $8 million ($3,343 psf), based on its GFA of 2,393 sq ft. It sits on a site measuring 950 sq ft. 45 and 46 Circular Road, which must be purchased together, have a total GFA of 5,879 sq ft. The two shophouses, which have a guide price of $20.5 million ($3,487 psf), sit on a site measuring 2,575 sq ft.
New Bridge Road cluster
Comprising a corner block of four adjoining four-storey shophouses at 27 to 33 New Bridge Road and a five-storey commercial building at 23 New Bridge Road, the cluster is located in the heart of the CBD, says JLL.
According to the marketing agent, the property at 27 to 33 New Bridge Road — which comes with 99-year leases starting from 1934, 1936 and 1938 — has a guide price of $23 million, or $1,275 psf, based on its existing combined GFA of 18,034 sq ft. As for 23 New Bridge Road, it has an indicative price tag of $18.5 million ($2,806 psf), based on its GFA of 6,594 sq ft. 23 New Bridge Road sits on land measuring 1,584 sq ft.
The property at 27 to 33 New Bridge Road, which occupies 7,042 sq ft of land, could be redeveloped into a commercial building with a six-storey rear extension, says JLL. This could increase its GFA by an additional 11,546 sq ft, to a total of 29,580 sq ft. With its 70m-wide main road frontage, the shophouses at 27 to 33 New Bridge Road are ideal for redevelopment into an “iconic building” for office, co-working, hospitality, medical or entertainment purposes, says JLL.
This article appeared in EdgeProp Pullout, Issue 809 (Dec 11, 2017).