'Ferrari woman' grants option to buy her GCB for S$47m

'Ferrari woman' grants option to buy her GCB for S$47m

Mon, Sep 16, 2019

KALPANA RASHIWALA


SHI Ka Yee, in her 70s and dubbed the "Ferrari woman" for a series of offences while driving her Ferrari, is understood to be in the early stages of selling her bungalow in Astrid Hill for S$47 million.

The price works out to S$1,742 per square foot on the freehold land area of 26,983 sq ft.

The price at which the property is changing hands is lower than the seller's asking price of S$52 million or S$1,927 psf.

An option to purchase the property was granted by Ms Shi on Sept 7 to the buyer, who is understood to be a low-profile Singaporean residing in the Chatsworth Park Good Class Bungalow (GCB) Area.

The rectangular-shaped, elevated plot with a wide frontage is at a cul de sac within the Queen Astrid Park GCB Area. On site is an old single-storey bungalow with a swimming pool; the property was repainted recently. Ms Shi does not live in the Astrid Hill bungalow.

Market watchers say the District 10 property is ripe for redevelopment.

At the corner of the site is a majestic raintree, the branches of which spill over to the next-door property; this was the source of a row Ms Shi had with her neighbour.

In 2015, Ms Shi, furious that her neighbour was having the tree pruned as it was encroaching into his driveway, barged into the next-door property, hurled abuses at the neighbour before leaving a tree pruner high up on a crane above her garden after taking the keys to it.

Singapore Civil Defence Force officers had to rescue the tree pruner.

Bungalows in the 39 gazetted GCB Areas are the most prestigious form of landed housing in Singapore, with strict planning conditions stipulated by the Urban Redevelopment Authority to preserve their exclusivity and low-rise character.