A prime four-storey shophouse at 21 New Bridge Road has been put up for sale by tender, announced marketing agent Colliers International. The 99-year leasehold property has a guide price of $6 million, excluding the premium payable for lease renewal. The additional premium payable to top-up the lease, which started from December 1928, is $5.64 million.

The shophouse is currently tenanted to a restaurant operator on a month-to-month basis, and the property is approved for F&B use until December 2019. It can be sold with vacant possession and on a “as is where is” basis, says Colliers. The shophouse has a total floor area of about 4,500 sq ft and sits on a 1,443 sq ft site. The price works out to $1,333 psf based on the total floor area. It has an allowable building height of up to 18.35m and is zoned for commercial use with a plot ratio of 4.2 under the 2014 Master Plan.

Shophouses are scarce in supply and will continue to appeal to high-net-worth individuals, property funds and investment firms, says Steven Tan, director of capital markets and investment services at Colliers.

Properties with full commercial-use zoning are favoured by investors as additional buyer’s stamp duty and seller’s stamp duty are not applicable, he adds.

The property is located opposite The Central shopping mall and enjoys high footfall from being beside a restaurant and a coffee shop. It is served by the Clarke Quay MRT station on the North-East Line as well as Raffles Place interchange. It is also close to car parks along Hong Kong Street and at The Central mall.

The tender will close on May 30.