Sim Lim Square extends deadline for en bloc tender
Sim Lim Square up for en bloc sale with S$1.25b reserve price
Mall sits on a 99-year leasehold site with a land size of 78,152 square feet and a remaining lease of 63 years
Tue, Apr 30, 2019
ELECTRONICS shopping mall Sim Lim Square in Rochor Canal Road has been put up for collective sale via public tender at a reserve price of S$1.25 billion, marketing agent SLP International Property Consultants announced on Monday.
Its initial asking price in March last year had been S$1.1 billion.
The retail strata mall, one of Singapore's largest IT shopping centres, comprises six floors and two basements, housing 492 commercial units.
It sits on a 99-year leasehold site with a land size of 78,152 square feet and a remaining lease of 63 years.
The latest Urban Redevelopment Authority-approved (URA) gross floor area (GFA) is 391,000 sq ft, with the site zoned for commercial use with a plot ratio of 4:2 according to the URA's 2014 Master Plan, SLP said.
The site is square-shaped and fronts three roads with pedestrian access on all four sides.
Built in 1985, Sim Lim Square is known for its electronics and IT goods and services retailers, which are operated by individual shop owners and entrepreneurs. Some of the owners of the units have been in business since the 1980s.
Vikas Gupta, chairman of the mall's collective sales committee, said: "We are currently heavily under-utilised and the strata system does not allow Sim Lim Square to use the spare space, so it's the ideal time to refresh (the mall)."
The mall is located near the commercial precinct in the Bras Basah-Bugis planning area and the historical district of Kampong Glam. As a result, it sees high volumes of footfall from tourists, foreign visitors and local shoppers, SLP said.
Given the mall's location at the apex of the Ophir-Rochor Corridor, which is part of the expanded downtown area, the new owner can sync its asset management strategy of the property with current urban upgrading plans, SLP said.
The marketing agent said that interested developers can explore converting the property for other uses, under the latest URA incentive scheme - the Strategic Development Incentive - announced on March 27. Under the scheme, applicants can apply for a change in land use, plot ratio and/or building height.
Although the URA circular stated that the scheme is intended for the amalgamation of two or more plots of land, exceptions can be granted if a single plot is large enough that it is able to exert a positive transformative effect on the surrounding urban environment after redevelopment. Sim Lim Square's collective sales committee is "confident" that the site is large enough to qualify for the scheme, SLP said.
The tender closes at 3pm on June 24.
Re: Sim Lim Square up for en bloc sale with S$1.25b reserve price
Anyone is on the CSC or an SP? Any bids so far?
Re: Sim Lim Square up for en bloc sale with S$1.25b reserve price
Re: Sim Lim Square up for en bloc sale with S$1.25b reserve price
Wah lau this shit again. Last time, Waterloo Apartment also kena fire. Baiting for attention issit?
Re: Sim Lim Square up for en bloc sale with S$1.25b reserve price
Quote:
Originally Posted by
avatarfire
Wah lau this shit again. Last time, Waterloo Apartment also kena fire. Baiting for attention issit?
https://www.propertyguru.com.sg/prop...nts-for-131-1m
Owners at the development will likely receive gross sales proceeds of around $4.37 million per unit.
Re: Sim Lim Square up for en bloc sale with S$1.25b reserve price
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Arcachon
Has there been any bids yet?
Re: Sim Lim Square up for en bloc sale with S$1.25b reserve price
Quote:
Originally Posted by
avatarfire
Wah lau this shit again. Last time, Waterloo Apartment also kena fire. Baiting for attention issit?
Someone trying to push for en bloc sale through illegal means.
Re: Sim Lim Square up for en bloc sale with S$1.25b reserve price
Quote:
Originally Posted by
annetyu
Someone trying to push for en bloc sale through illegal means.
Seems like it. The fire is too close to tender close to be a coincidence
Re: Sim Lim Square up for en bloc sale with S$1.25b reserve price
Quote:
Originally Posted by
avatarfire
Seems like it. The fire is too close to tender close to be a coincidence
Wow, 2019 still got people to think like that.
https://mothership.sg/2018/03/bukit-ho-swee-fire/
Supposedly never-seen-before photos of 1961 Bukit Ho Swee fire emerge online
Re: Sim Lim Square up for en bloc sale with S$1.25b reserve price
Sim Lim Square extends deadline for en bloc tender
Jun 26, 2019
Sim Lim Square is keeping its sale tender open for an extra month to give potential buyers more time to assess if the commercial site on Rochor Canal Road can be turned into a mixed-use project that could include a hotel.
The move comes as the area undergoes a makeover in the wake of high demand for hospitality assets and new guidelines that urge developers to explore how older buildings can be gentrified.
The redevelopment potential for Singapore's gadget central has attracted about 10 queries from developers and investment funds for its $1.25 billion collective sale tender.
The tender was due to have closed on Monday but it will now stay open until 3pm on July 22.
This will give potential bidders "more time to explore converting the commercial site into a mixed-use space, including a hotel with upwards of 500 rooms", Mr Francis Tan, chief investment officer of real estate consultancy SLP Scotia, told The Straits Times yesterday.
Six-storey Sim Lim Square, with 492 units across a floor area of 22,007 sq m, was completed in 1987 and soon became known for its electronics and IT goods and services retailers.
The 7,260 sq m plot is fully zoned for commercial use, so there is no mandatory requirement to top up the lease, which has 63 years left, Mr Tan added.
Developers can explore converting the property for other uses under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Strategic Development Incentive (SDI) scheme announced on March 27.
The scheme, which is aimed at encouraging the redevelopment of older commercial or mixed-use buildings in areas such as Orchard Road, the Central Business District and Marina Centre, allows applicants to apply for a change in land use, plot ratio and building height.
"Developers can get bonus gross floor area should they qualify under the SDI scheme. But they have to get clarification on what constitutes a strategic development... how much they can earn out of it, then they will make a bid," said Mr Vikas Gupta, chairman of the mall's collective sale committee.
Sim Lim Square is at the apex of the Ophir-Rochor Corridor, near the commercial precinct in the Bras Basah-Bugis area and the historical district of Kampong Glam.
The area is undergoing significant changes. The tight supply of new hotel rooms and stronger tourism performance have resulted in some developments near Rochor Canal Road, where Sim Lim Square is, being converted into hotels.
One example was the sale en bloc in November of Golden Wall Centre for $276.2 million to Worldwide Hotels, which owns and runs chains like Hotel 81.
But there are signs that commercial collective activity is slowing and that large sites in particular could face challenges due to their hefty prices and high retail vacancy rates for some.
A number of commercial buildings, including Jalan Besar Plaza and Verdun House, have closed their collective sale tenders without a deal. Golden Mile Complex closed its second tender in April without a bid.
Savills Singapore research head Alan Cheong noted: "If the price is right, developers would have bitten. If the quantum is huge, buyers will have to see how they can extract value from the land, and one way is to do a change of use."
But Mr Vikas remains confident. He said: "We did consider our reserve price carefully. We are four times bigger than Golden Wall Centre, and there are factors to support our asking price."
