StanChart sells Peace Centre corner office space for $11m

Business Times: Tue, Feb 07

A PROMINENT two-level corner space at Peace Centre at the junction of Selegie and Sophia Roads is said to have been sold for slightly over $11 million by its owner, Standard Chartered Bank. The bank had previously operated a branch office on the premises. The space, which is currently vacant, is spread across the first and second levels of the ageing complex, where there were two collective sale attempts last year. BT understands that a seasoned property investor has bought StanChart's units, which add up to nearly 5,600 sq ft. The transacted price reflects about $1,970 per square foot based on the units' total strata area. In the MacPherson area, Tat Hong Investment has sold an old, five-storey industrial building, One Howard, at the corner of MacPherson and Howard Roads, for $30.3 million. This works out to a unit land price of about $402 per square foot per plot ratio. No development charge is payable for redeveloping the freehold plot. Buyer Malaysian Dairy Industries owns the adjacent properties. Following its acquisition of One Howard, Malaysian Dairy will own the whole rectangular block bound by MacPherson, Howard, Mactaggart and Davidson Roads. In the near term, Malaysian Dairy is expected to renovate One Howard when existing tenancies in the building expire and occupy the premises itself. However, in the medium to longer term, property watchers expect Malaysian Dairy to tap the considerable redevelopment potential from amalgamating its existing land with the One Howard site. The plots are well located, about 300 metres from the Tai Seng MRT Station, and zoned for Business 1 use (which includes light industrial and warehouse use) with a 2.5 plot ratio (ratio of maximum gross floor area to land area) under Master Plan 2008. One Howard itself has significant redevelopment potential. Its estimated gross floor area of slightly over 54,000 sq ft is nearly 30 per cent shy of the maximum 75,393 sq ft allowed under Master Plan 2008 for the 30,157 sq ft freehold site. One Howard was sold through a tender exercise which closed on Jan 12 and was handled by DTZ. The tender is said to have drawn four to five bids. Jones Lang LaSalle conducted the tender for the sale of the units at Peace Centre. The tender, which closed in late December, is understood to have drawn about half a dozen bids. The seven-storey retail and office complex is on a site that also includes the Peace Mansion apartments behind it. The mixed development is on a site with about 57 years' remaining lease. JLL is also expected to broker the sale of Twenty Anson, a 20-storey Grade A office block near Tanjong MRT Station. Negotiations for a potential sale are said to be at an advanced stage and the price is said to be around $2,122 psf on net lettable area. With income support, the price may be higher, at about $2,200 psf. The manager of CapitaCommercial Trust, which was tipped as the potential buyer of Twenty Anson in BT's story on Monday, yesterday said in a regulatory filing with Singapore Exchange that it 'constantly evaluates investment opportunities with a view to enhancing the value of CCT's portfolio'. 'In relation to the subject property, it is but one of a few opportunities we are currently evaluating. As there is no certainty of the deal materialising, unitholders are advised to exercise caution in trading the units of CCT,' it added.   Source: Business Times