Concorde Hotel and Shopping Centre up for collective sale for S$820 million

Concorde Hotel and Shopping Centre up for collective sale for S$820 million

Sep 3, 2024

CONCORDE Hotel and Shopping Centre, an Orchard Road property majority-owned by Ong Beng Seng's Hotel Properties Ltd, has been put on the market with a guiding price of S$820 million.

The mixed-use property is located at 100 Orchard Road and spans 99,623 square feet (sq ft). It is designated for hotel use and has a maximum height of 10 stories. The site now consists of a three-story retail platform and a 407-room hotel.

Concorde Hotel and Shopping Centre, valued at S$820 million, is being advertised for about S$1,801 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), according to marketing agency Savills Singapore on Tuesday. That per square foot land cost includes a S$213.1 million premium to extend the lease for another 99 years, as well as the assumption that the property will be redeveloped to include a hotel on 40% of the gross floor space, residential usage for another 40%, and commercial use for the remaining 20%. The property's lease is for about 54 years.

HPL, the listed property business headed by millionaire Ong Beng Seng, controls the hotel as well as 63 of the 97 stratum retail spaces, according to Savills.

If the en bloc sale is successful, store owners may expect to receive between S$746,000 and S$12.1 million. HPL, which owns more than 80% of the property, may get more than S$650 million from the sale if a deal is reached at the guiding price of S$820 million.

Previously, the Concorde location housed the Meridien Hotel. According to archival sources, Indonesian entrepreneur Hendra Rahardja owns the Meridien on Orchard Road and one in Changi. During the 1980s recession, the hotels were placed in receivership. According to prior reports, an Ong Beng Seng-led firm purchased the Meridien property on Orchard Road in 1989 for S$180 million. After the brand fled Singapore, HPL took over management of the hotel, rebranding it Concorde Hotel Singapore in 2008.

Aside from Concorde Hotel and Shopping Centre, HPL owns Forum The Shopping Mall, voco Orchard Singapore, and HPL House, all of which are located on valuable land parcels at the intersection of Orchard Road and Cuscaden Road. Last August, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) approved the group's request to convert the three sites into a mixed-use project that included a hotel, luxury residential, retail, and office components.

Reshaping Orchard Road Retail

Singapore's premier retail strip is expected to be transformed, with some buildings sold in recent years and other properties up for sale.

Delfi Orchard was sold to City Developments Ltd (CDL) in April for S$439 million, or SS$3,346 psf ppr. Ming Arcade was previously sold for S$172 million, or S$3,125 psf ppr, in December 2022. HPL, which held seven units in the commercial complex, got S$61 million in the deal.

In the same year, the Tanoto family's Pacific Eagle Real Estate purchased the freehold Tanglin Shopping Centre for S$868 million, or S$2,769 per square foot.

Far East Shopping Centre attempted to go en bloc earlier this year, but was unsuccessful.

A S$910 million deal from a firm related to Chinese tycoon Du Shuanghua's Bright Ruby Resources fell through after the buyer failed to get URA clearance to increase the site's gross floor space in its planned renovation under the government's Strategic Development Incentive program.

We also learn that the freehold retail podium in Scotts Square, which was advertised for sale in January 2024, is no longer available. Wharf Estates Singapore is alleged to have opted not to sell the asset after a tender in February had no buyers at the S$450 million target price.

The owners of Orchard Towers also created a collective sale committee in 2022 to compete for a possible S$1.6 billion en bloc sale, Singapore's most expensive collective sale, but were unable to secure consent from 80% of owners.

The Singapore Tourism Board, URA, and National Parks Board announced a significant redevelopment of Orchard Road in 2019 to revitalise the area.

The authorities proposed connecting Istana Park, which is near the Concorde Hotel and Shopping Centre, to Dhoby Ghaut Green and the open space at Plaza Singapura by pedestrianising a stretch of the road.

According to Jeremy Lake, managing director of investment sales and capital markets at Savills Singapore, "Concorde Hotel and Shopping Centre is strategically placed and poised to benefit from this transformation, being the key major gateway project that will connect Dhoby Ghaut to the upper stretch of Orchard Road."

"The Concorde Hotel and Shopping Centre has been a central part of Orchard Road for decades, and its redevelopment will usher in a new era of growth and revitalisation for the area."

Lake also said that the authorities had already received an outline planning proposal for a 10-story mixed-use redevelopment project that would include a hotel, commercial, and residential component. Concorde Hotel and Shopping Centre has a development baseline of 539,719 square feet, resulting in a plot ratio of 5.41, which is lower than the site's authorised master plan plot ratio of 5.6.

"The buyer may also consider submitting an alternative outline planning application for a different use mix," the architect stated.

The tender for the Concorde Hotel and Shopping Centre will conclude at 3 p.m. on October 16.