Long House Food Centre sold for $45.2m

[reporter2]

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/arch...-452m-20140108

Published January 08, 2014

Long House Food Centre sold for $45.2m

By Lee U-Wen [email protected]


LONG House Food Centre, a popular food centre along Upper Thomson Road, has a new owner, after being sold for $45.2 million.

Long House Food Centre has been acquired by TEE Ventures, a subsidiary of the mainboard-listed TEE Land, in a deal brokered by Knight Frank.

Long House, a family-held asset, sits on a 1,576 square metre freehold site that has been designated for commercial and residential use under the 2008 Master Plan.

In a filing to the Singapore Exchange yesterday, TEE Land said that it intends to redevelop the property into a commercial-cum-residential development. It added that the acquisition was in line with its strategy to expand its local real estate footprint.

Knight Frank described the site as being suitable for redevelopment into a four-storey, mixed-use development with shops on the lower levels and residential units upstairs.

Knight Frank's director and head of investment and capital markets Ian Loh noted that the sale price translated to an equivalent land rate of $888 per square foot per plot ratio (psf/pr), before factoring in the development charge.

After factoring in an estimated development charge at prevailing rates, it works out to $970 to $980 psf/pr, depending on the mix of commercial and residential quantum proposed.

[kane]

The stalls there so so. I guess not a big lost.

[reporter2]

http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/...-452m-20140109

Long House site: Bought for $678,000, sold for $45.2m

Published on Jan 09, 2014

By Cheryl Ong


LARGER than usual crowds thronged the popular Long House Food Centre yesterday after news emerged that the site had been sold for redevelopment.

Many visitors were sorry to see the well-loved place go, but the family which has just sold the site in Upper Thomson Road is now sitting on a handsome profit.

This was all thanks to a shrewd move by the late Ng Aun Khim to buy the site more than 30 years ago.

The Ng family sold the 1,575.6 sq m site for $45.2 million - or $888 per sq ft (psf) per plot ratio - to listed developer TEE Land on Tuesday. The property had been owned by the family's firm Sin Hin Lee Investment.

The site was bought in 1980, said Mr Ng Choon Gim, 62, who oversees the business. His father had acquired it for just $678,000.

That means its value has shot up 66-fold over 33 years.

TEE Land plans to redevelop it into a mixed-use project. It can house 30 to 38 residential units, averaging 1,000 sq ft each. About five to 10 commercial units measuring about 1,600 sq ft each can also be built, said deal broker Knight Frank. Residential units are expected to sell for about $1,500 psf, while commercial units should go for about $4,000 to $6,000 psf.

The site is about 500m from the Marymount MRT Station, and about 350m from the upcoming Upper Thomson Station.

The site was owned earlier by oil giant Shell, which had a petrol station there in 1961.

The late Mr Ng was the dealer who ran the petrol station for more than 20 years. "I still remember sleeping in there when I was in primary four, and I grew up there till I was 18 years old," said his son. He recalled that it was surrounded by "kampung houses" with tombstones scattered about.

Shell scaled down its operations in 1979, downsizing the kiosk, which still stands at 183A Upper Thomson Road today.

The property has been home to many food establishments over the years. After the Ng family bought it, fast-food chain A&W asked to lease the site in 1980. It moved out after operating there for eight years.

Then food court operator Kopitiam Group leased the premises for another two years.

Long House moved there from Jalan Besar about 12 years ago, said Mr Ng junior.

The food centre is famous for its prawn noodles, duck rice and goreng pisang. Hawkers said business has declined since parking fees were imposed a year ago.

News of the looming closure drew plenty of extra visitors. Mr Tan Ah Hui, 68, who runs Ah Hui Big Prawn Noodles at the centre, estimated that he had sold at least 100 bowls by 2.30pm, when The Straits Times visited. He has been serving the dish since 1963, and now plans to move to a coffee shop in Block 280, Bishan Street 24.

Ms Rose Le, 35, owner of Boon Pisang Goreng, said she has not looked for a new place but is not too worried about whether business will be hurt by a move. "Customers have been asking me not to move too far away," she said. The stall sells about 500 pieces of goreng pisang a day.

The Ng family has other property investments in the Thomson area. Mr Ng junior said his brother owns the unit housing restaurant Liquid Kitchen at Yew Lian Park, while his cousins own three shops in the area.

"I have my father to thank for his foresight to buy the site at a historically low price," he said.

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[hanafi_d2000]

It's a loss to the memory of the place -I think a lot of runners & bikers will miss it