Katong Shopping Centre Up For En Bloc Sale For 3rd Time In 7 Years
Over the past few years, several iconic buildings in Singapore have been put up for en bloc sale for redevelopment.
The latest piece of property to join this ‘club’ is Katong Shopping Centre.
Source: Street Directory
According to The Business Times (BT), the 50-year-old mall has been offered for collective sale at S$638 million.
This is the third en bloc attempt after two previous ones in 2016 and 2017.
Katong Shopping Centre on collective sale at S$638 million
When Katong Shopping Centre opened in 1973, it was Singapore’s first air-conditioned mall.
It was also the largest shopping centre in the east.
On Tuesday (18 Apr), BT reported that the freehold building, which occupies a corner land plot of more than 86,9oo sq ft, is now on en bloc sale at S$638 million.
This marks the third en bloc effort for the mall’s owners. Cushman & Wakefield handled the previous two attempts in 2016 and 2017, both of which had the same asking price of S$630 million.
Its current marketing agency is the real estate consulting firm Edmund Tie & Company.
Option to develop serviced apartments
EdgeProp notes that under the Master Plan 2019, Katong Shopping Centre is zoned for “Commercial & Residential” use at a gross plot ratio of 3.0.
The Master Plan is the statutory land use plan for the physical development of Singapore over the next 10 to 15 years. Meanwhile, the gross plot ratio determines the intensity of the use of a plot of land for developments.
Source: Jonathan Danker on Flickr
Swee Shou Fern, head of investment advisory at Edmund Tie, said there is the option to build serviced apartments in the new development. This is subject to planning approval, of course.
Additionally, there are no restrictions on foreign ownership of the site.
In terms of commercial use, Ms Swee pointed out this is a rare opportunity to own a freehold mixed-use redevelopment in the East Coast precinct, which she called “one of the most desirable residential enclaves in Singapore”.
The site is located just 500m away from the upcoming Marine Parade MRT station, which is set to open next year.
It is also near educational institutions like Tao Nan School, CHIJ (Katong) Primary, Dunman High School, and Victoria Junior College.
The collective sale tender will close on 19 May at 3pm, notes Channel NewsAsia (CNA).
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Featured image adapted from Woh Hup.
