Hotel Clover in Jalan Sultan sold for S$74.8m to HK's Weave Living

Buyer will transform asset into serviced residences with a modern twist

Mar 11, 2022

A ROW of 17 conservation shophouses in the Kampong Glam area currently operating as the 88-room Hotel Clover in Jalan Sultan is being sold for S$74.8 million.

The buyer is a special purpose vehicle that is majority owned by Hong Kong-headquartered Weave Living, an integrated lifestyle rental accommodation brand set up in 2017.

This is Weave Living's maiden acquisition outside Hong Kong. Its partner in the acquisition is a Singapore group that is taking a minority stake.

The 2-storey property - with an attic - is being sold by a Singapore-incorporated entity whose shareholders include doctors.

The property, at Nos 17 to 33 Jalan Sultan, has a total land area of 15,201 square feet (sq ft) with 99-year leasehold tenure starting April 2008, leaving a balance of 85 years. The total gross floor area is about 35,000 sq ft.

CBRE brokered the sale via private treaty. Its senior director of capital markets for Singapore, Clemence Lee, said: "The property is an iconic boutique hotel in the culturally rich Ophir-Rochor Corridor.

"It is extremely rare to find a row of 17 adjoining shophouses on an island plot for sale in Singapore as such assets are typically tightly-held by owners," added Lee, who also brokered the S$90 million sale of Porcelain Hotel, a row of 12 shophouses along Mosque Street in the Chinatown area. The deal was completed in January this year.

The sale of Hotel Clover in Jalan Sultan is slated for completion in 3 months, after which Weave Living will embark on an internal refurbishment costing S$4-5 million to reposition the asset as Weave Suites, its fresh take on serviced residences with a modern flavour.

"There'll be shared spaces, lifestyle amenities and community activities and activation of the neighbourhood. We'll be partnering with existing businesses around us, fostering place making," said Sachin Doshi, founder and CEO of Weave Living.

"The spruce-up of the Jalan Sultan shophouses will involve redesigning the accommodation and all other areas of the property to create amenity space for tenants and partially reposition the ground floor to create F&B and commercial space for both our tenants and the broader neighbourhood," he added.

The finished product, expected to open in Q1 2023, will have fully-furnished rental accommodation units comprising a mix of single and dual-occupancy serviced suites, including several loft units with exclusive green terraces and kitchenettes.

Tenants will also be able to access shared spaces - such as a dining area, living room, kitchen, gym, yoga studio and workspaces.

"We generally target long-term leases but provide flexibility," said Doshi.

Warburg Pincus invested US$181 million in the outfit in November 2018, with an option to increase that to over US$400 million over time.

Weave Living currently has 6 operating properties in Hong Kong with nearly 700 units - comprising serviced suites, multi-family residences and studios - totalling about US$500 million in assets under management.

Within the next 12 months, this will grow to US$850 million with 4 new properties - 3 in Hong Kong and the Jalan Sultan shophouse asset in Singapore. The 4 new properties will boost the number of residential units in Weave's portfolio by about 800 units to over 1,500 units.

"Some of our properties are wholly-owned and some of the properties are in joint ventures with global institutional real estate investors," said Doshi.

Doshi said Weave Living is looking to make further acquisitions in Singapore over the next couple of years. "We are confident that the city will see an influx of global talent thanks to its status as an important financial hub combined with its pragmatic approach to dealing with the after-effects of the pandemic.

"We believe there is huge demand for fully-serviced, flexible and stylishly designed accommodation in Singapore, which we expect will only grow as we continue to grow our portfolio in the city."

The latest acquisition marks a new milestone for the company, and signifies Weave Living's expansion plan into more Asia-Pacific markets, said Doshi.