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.