Far East Shopping Centre owners in private talks after close of S$928 million en bloc tender

The guide price works out to a land rate of S$3,421 per square foot per plot ratio

May 3, 2024

THE owners of Far East Shopping Centre are now in private talks with interested parties after its en bloc sale tender closed on Thursday (May 2), marketing agent CBRE told The Business Times.

The consultancy declined to comment on the level of interest in the collective sale and did not confirm whether any bids were received.

This is the latest sale attempt by the owners of the 999-year leasehold property along Orchard Road. The previous tender had fallen through with the buyer – Glory Property Developments, a company linked to Chinese businessman Du Shuanghua’s Bright Ruby Resources – pulling out of the acquisition.

The guide price for the latest tender was unchanged at S$928 million. This works out to a land rate of S$3,421 per square foot per plot ratio, after taking into account a land betterment charge to rebuild up to the maximum buildable gross floor area of 290,574 square feet (sq ft) under the Strategic Development Incentive (SDI) scheme – 20 per cent more than the site’s current development baseline of 242,145 sq ft, assuming full commercial usage.

BT reported last month that the earlier deal had come undone after Glory Property Developments failed to secure the government’s approval for its proposal under the SDI scheme.

Glory Property had applied to build a “new commercial and hotel development” in December 2023. In a statement dated Jan 24, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said: “The proposal cannot be supported as it constitutes only a single development site and thus does not fulfil the eligibility criteria for the SDI scheme.”

Built in 1974, Far East Shopping Centre comprises a five-storey retail podium, a 10-storey office block and a two-storey basement. Around 30 per cent of the property’s share value is still owned by Far East Organization, which had developed it. In its vicinity are Bonvests Holdings’ : B28 -1.05% Liat Towers and Wharf Estates Singapore’s Wheelock Place.

Along the same stretch of the road are buildings owned by Ong Beng Seng’s Hotel Properties Ltd : H15 0%, which were bundled together in a redevelopment proposal approved by the URA in August last year. These include the voco Orchard Singapore hotel, Forum The Shopping Mall and HPL House.

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/pro...en-bloc-tender