https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/rea...2m-guide-price

Trio of Geylang shophouses on market with S$12m guide price

They sit between the Paya Lebar and Kallang Riverside growth centres

Tue, Jul 21, 2020

Rachel Chia


THREE adjoining conservation shop-houses at 223, 225 and 227 Geylang Road are up for sale collectively by expression of interest, with a guide price of S$12 million, exclusive marketing agent CBRE said on Monday.

The freehold, two-storey shophouses sit on a combined site of about 4,318 square feet (sq ft), with a total built-up area of about 6,754 sq ft.

After factoring in an estimated development charge of S$3.2 million, the guide price works out to about S$1,172 per square foot per plot ratio, CBRE said.

Under the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) Master Plan 2019, the site is zoned for commercial use with a plot ratio of 3.0 in the Geylang Secondary Settlement Conservation Area.

The three shophouses are fully leased to multiple tenants. Ground-floor tenants include a restaurant and two entertainment clubs; the upper floor units are leased to office and residential tenants.

The buyer will have naming and signage rights to the property, which has 15 m of unobstructed main road frontage along Geylang Road.

The site is a 10-minute walk from Kallang MRT station. Several bus services along Geylang Road lead to other arterial roads and the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway, Pan-Island Expressway, Central Expressway and Nicoll Highway.

CBRE senior director of capital markets Clemence Lee said that the site's freehold tenure, city-fringe location and main-road frontage would appeal to a wide pool of buyers, including investors, owner-occupiers and small to mid-sized developers.

The buyer can explore maximising the site's 3.0 plot ratio by constructing a rear extension and increasing the built-up area to a total of 12,955 sq ft, subject to approval from the authorities, he added.

This will make the property a boutique building that could house a food-and-beverage outlet and showroom on the ground floor, with serviced apartments or offices on the upper floor, although this will also be subject to approval from the authorities, Mr Lee said.

Geylang Road is located between the Paya Lebar Regional Centre and the Kallang Riverside Lifestyle Precinct, which are growth centres identified by the URA.

The buyer of the three shophouses can thus expect "strong" rental and capital appreciation in the medium to long term, as the property is "well-positioned" to benefit from the spillover of commercial activities in Paya Lebar and Kallang, said Mr Lee.

There will be no additional buyer's stamp duty or seller's stamp duty imposed on the transaction, and foreigners are eligible to purchase the shophouses.

The expression of interest exercise closes at 3pm on Aug 27.

Recent transactions nearby include a sale of a three-storey shophouse at 460 Geylang Road for S$4.8 million in March, and a S$7.2 million deal for a four-storey building at 233 Geylang Road in May last year, CBRE noted.