SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - Len Hoo, managing director of family-owned C.T. Hoo jewellery and souvenir store, has been operating his business at Tanglin Shopping Centre since the mid-1980s. He knows many of the owners there, some of whom are also business proprietors who have been at Tanglin Shopping Centre for close to 40 years, for instance, Justmen’s Tailor on the first level, Gope’s Foto & Film on the third level, Indonesian restaurant Tambuah Mas on the fourth level, and Tow Yung Clinic on the fifth level.
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Chairman of the collective sale committee (CSC) for the fourth time, Hoo is at Tanglin Shopping Centre every day. “When the other owners see me, they want to know when we are going to [launch the collective sale],” he says. These are the majority of the owners — the 80% who have agreed to the collective sale.
On Dec 13, Tanglin Shopping Centre was launched for sale a fourth time at a guide price of $828 million. This works out to $2,642 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr) based on its existing gross floor area (GFA) of 313,435 sq ft. The sole marketing agent is Savills Singapore.
The building sits on a freehold site of 68,512 sq ft, with a plot ratio of 4.2 under the 2019 Master Plan. It is zoned commercial, which means it could be redeveloped into a new commercial building with 60% of the GFA for commercial use and the remaining 40% for residential and serviced apartment or hotel use. The new development can be up to 20 storeys.
With the main complex built in 1972, Tanglin Shopping Centre is the second oldest shopping mall in Singapore, after People’s Park Complex in Chinatown, which was built in 1967. Tanglin Shopping Centre was developed by S.K. Chee Co. for $7.5 million. S.K. Chee Co. was the development company of cardiologist Dr Chee Kim Hoe, who had a clinic on the fifth level of Tanglin Shopping Centre.
The first phase of Tanglin Shopping Centre which opened in 1972, was a six-storey complex with restaurants, retail and office units. It also contains Singapore Medical Centre, a private medical facility with 18 medical specialists. The second phase of Tanglin Shopping Centre, namely the tower block from the seventh to 12 storeys, with strata office units, and an annexe block of eight storeys containing the car park, was built in the 1980s.
There is a total of 364 strata units within Tanglin Shopping Centre. City Developments Ltd’s hotel arm, Millennium & Copthorne, holds a 35% stake in the building via a mix of shops, office units and the parking lot in the building.
The building has a 105 m frontage along Tanglin Road and secondary frontage on Cuscaden Road, says Galven Tan, Savills Singapore deputy managing director of investments sales and capital markets.
Not only does it have a prime frontage, but dual access from both Tanglin Road and Cuscaden Road, points out Hoo. The building is also a freehold strata mixed-use commercial complex along the prime Tanglin Road-Orchard Road stretch.
Hoo has been operating his business in the Tanglin Road neighbourhood since the 70s. Before moving to Tanglin Shopping Centre, his first shop was at a former four-storey commercial building with a mix of retail and office units next door. It has since been torn down and redeveloped into the luxury hotel, St Regis Singapore, which opened in 2008. (Find Singapore commercial properties with our commercial directory)
Behind Tanglin Shopping Centre is the upcoming 142-room Artyzen Cuscaden Singapore on Cuscaden Road. The hotel is owned and operated by Hong Kong-listed developer Shun Tak Holdings. It is a redevelopment of a former bungalow at 9 Cuscaden Road which Shun Tak had purchased for $145 million in 2016. Behind Artyzen, and fronting Orchard Boulevard, is the upcoming mixed-use development, Boulevard 88 luxury residences and the Singapore Edition Hotel.
“There are a few new developments around Tanglin Shopping Centre,” notes Savills’ Tan. “These luxury hotels — Artyzen and Singapore Edition, together with the adjoining St Regis Hotel — will rejuvenate the area, and the new development on Tanglin Shopping Centre will be the centrepiece of luxury.”
The future mixed-use commercial development on the site of Tanglin Shopping Centre could include luxury retail, high-end residences or even a limited-edition branded boutique hotel that will complement the surrounding luxury hotels and residences, adds Tan.
With this part of Orchard Road being rejuvenated, Hoo is hopeful that this time around, the collective sale will be successful. The method of apportionment is more favourable for the strata owners of the retail and office units, notes Hoo, who owns a 300 sq ft shop unit on the first level, and an 800 sq ft office unit on the ninth level.
The last three collective sale attempts were in 2007, 2011 and 2017. “Our building [Tanglin Shopping Centre] is already 50 years old,” says Hoo. “We need to spend a lot on maintenance issues, the mechanical & electrical system, escalators and lifts.”
Nearby, the owners of other ageing, strata commercial mixed-use developments are also gunning for a collective sale. For instance, Ming Arcade, located at the corner of Cuscaden Road and Orchard Road, is taking another stab at it. Those at Orchard Towers are at the early stages of the collective sale process with Edmund Tie as their marketing agent. The owners at Far East Shopping Centre have also mobilised a collective sale with CBRE as their marketing agent.
However, Tanglin Shopping Centre is the first to be ready for rollout. According to Jeremy Lake, Savills Singapore managing director, investment sales & capital markets, “Tanglin Shopping Centre is a compelling opportunity as it’s currently the only commercial site available for sale in the Orchard area”. The commercial zoning means that there is no additional buyer’s stamp duty payable by the successful bidder, he adds. The tender will close on Feb 22, 2022.
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