Portfolio of 32 strata office units at Manhattan House sold for $14.79 mil
A portfolio of 32 strata office units on the third floor of Manhattan House, a 16-storey business building on Chin Swee Road. Based on caveats lodged, the 32 units were offered for a sum total of $14.793 million or a typical cost of $783 psf, based on caveats lodged as of August 5.
Found in the CBD fringe, Manhattan House is inside walking range of the Chinatown MRT Interchange Station on the Downtown and North East Lines. It is also adjacent to Pearl’s Hill City Park.
The units are part of a collection of 33 strata office units that were released for sale last October by top notch advertising and marketing agency ETC. The overview price was after that $24.5 million. The units sold array from 323 sq ft to 850 sq ft. Based on the overall strata location of 19,547 sq ft, the overview cost calculated to $1,250 psf.
Under the 2019 Master Plan, the 4167.7 sq m (44,861 sq ft) site is zoned “commercial” with a gross plot proportion of 4.7. However, URA has indicated that the site might be rezoned to “non commercial with retail at first storey”, with a substantial portion of the site supported for a residential tower of as much as 30 storeys with an optimum gross floor location of around 21,000 sq m (226,044 sq ft).
Manhattan House has an overall of 269 strata office units. The 99-year leasehold building was completed in 1976. It was first sold for collective sale in September 2019 for $300 million. In January 2023, a second cumulative sale attempt was made at a reserve price of $280 million with JLL as the marketing company. Nevertheless, there were no takers at the time.
The purchasers are likely to be investors, hoping to take a placement in the event of a successful en bloc sale of the building in the future. The units on the third level control 9% of the complete strata area of the building, and 13% of the overall share worth.
The commercial building has a 99-year lease with effect from 1969. Hence, it has 43 remaining years. Based on recent listings, every month asking rents for units range from $3.16 psf to $4.02 psf.
Swee Shou Fern, head of expenditure advisory at ETC, who realtored the sale, says that the 32 strata office units were acquired “for financial investment”. Nevertheless, she waned to discuss the purchaser.
Based on real property title searches, the purchaser of the strata units is Abwin (HP) Pte Ltd, an entity connected to among the largest sized used car dealerships in Singapore, that also offers motor financing and hire acquisition.
The workplace units appear to have been offered in two batches, with 16 transacted for a total of $7.531 million on June 27, and another 16 units on July 4 for $7.262 million.
