http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/...-sale-20130528
Courtyard house up for sale
Published on May 28, 2013
THE last traditional Chinese courtyard house in Singapore, the House of Tan Yeok Nee, will be put up for sale just one year after it last changed hands.
Marketing for the property, at the corner of Penang Road and Clemenceau Avenue, has started and it will be sold via a tender process, said the sole marketing agent Jones Lang LaSalle yesterday.
Currently leased to The University of Chicago (UChicago) Booth School of Business, the house owned by ERC Holdings is now a commercial property and will be sold with an existing tenancy, said Mr Anthony Barr, Jones Lang LaSalle national director of investment sales. UChicago Booth's tenancy will end in 2015.
Mr Barr also said the agency will not be disclosing the asking price for the property, which has a strata area of 58,000 sq ft.
"The offering provides an opportunity for owner-occupiers and investors to acquire a freehold commercial building located between Singapore's premier shopping district and the Central Business District," said Jones Lang LaSalle in a statement.
Mr Donald Han, special adviser at HSR Property Consultants, said he expects the property to fetch bids of between $1,600 per sq ft (psf) and $1,800 psf, with buying interest from conservation investors looking to add more of such properties to their portfolio.
Based on his estimate, the property may fetch between $92.8 million and $104.4 million.
In May last year, ERC Holdings bought The House of Tan Yeok Nee for more than $60 million from German fund manager Union Investment Real Estate via a private deal.
The House of Tan Yeok Nee is named after a wealthy Teochew businessman who made his fortune in Singapore in pepper, gambier and opium, and built the house for his family to live in.
Its usable space can be increased by reconfiguring the void areas and through the use of courtyard space, said Mr Barr.
Tender for The House of Tan Yeok Nee will close on July 5, at 3pm.
CHERYL ONG