Popular buys second residential property
Johnson Choo
[email protected]
WHILE Popular Holdings is a household name for retail bookstores and education-related publications catering to the masses, the mainboard-listed company is also diversifying into high-end property development.
Popular has just forked out $27.2 million for 10 residential units at 18 Shelford Road for redevelopment.
The group says the purchase price and redevelopment cost at the Shelford Road site will be financed through internal sources and bank borrowings, but did not give further details.
In an announcement on the Singapore Exchange yesterday, Popular said that "retail, distribution and publishing will remain as the group's core business", but it intends to "capitalise on the potential and promising returns of the current property market".
Indeed, it wasted no time latching onto the booming high-end property scene.
The group broke ground for One Robin, its first residential property development project, at Robin Road, last Monday.
Popular bought the Robin Road site last May for $12.5 million for redevelopment into a 2,940 square metre (31,646 sq ft), targeted squarely at the high-end luxury market.
With a contemporary facade and three-storey raised podium, One Robin will house a 17-floor tower, which includes a penthouse, a duplex unit and 12 typical units averaging 2,000 sq ft per unit on each floor.
Pricing for the units will only be known when the development is completed and put up for sale towards the end of next year.
The company indicated that it plans to use the proceeds to acquire a new headquarters for the group.
In February this year, the group also tendered for the hotly contested 99-year leasehold commercial site at New Bridge Road/North Canal Road, which they lost out to Kim Eng Properties.