Far East, Perennial offer to buy Golden Mile Complex for lower price of S$700m

Sale committee will now have to convince unit owners to accept a bid that's S$100m less than reserve price and independent valuation

Mar 31, 2022

A CONSORTIUM comprising Far East Organization and Perennial Holdings has offered to buy the iconic Golden Mile Complex for S$700 million, which is S$100 million lower than its reserve price of S$800 million, a source has confirmed with The Business Times.

Golden Mile Complex's collective sale committee (CSC) will now have to convince respective owners of the development with 718 strata-titled units to accept the deal as the offer fell below both the reserve price and an independent valuation of the property.

The offer came after the CSC entered private treaty negotiations with prospective buyers following the close of an en bloc tender of the property, which sits on a land area of around 1.3 hectares at Beach Road, on Feb 28.

In a letter sent on Mar 28 to owners of the development, which was first reported by The Straits Times, the CSC spelt out that the collective sale agreement must be revised to allow the committee to proceed with the sale of Golden Mile Complex at the offer price.

Therefore, meetings will be held with its marketing agent Edmund Tie on Apr 7 and 9 for owners to get information on the outcome of the tender and details of the offer.

Golden Mile Complex, a 16-storey building that was built in 1973, was gazetted as a conserved building by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for its historical and architectural significance on Oct 22, 2021.

It has a basement level accommodating shops, offices and apartments, and currently has a gross floor area (GFA) of 56,000 square metres (sq m). With the bonus floor area and alienation of the adjoining state land, the site has a maximum GFA of around 81,000 sq m, with the option to build a new tower of about 30 storeys beside the main building.

The latest collective sale attempt is a second one that was revived late last year before the latest round of cooling measures dampened the red hot private property market.

The building's first collective sale attempt in July 2019, also at a reserve price of S$800 million, drew no bids.

At the S$800 million reserve price, the indicative land rate, depending on the proposed mix of uses, worked out to S$1,350 per square foot (psf) per plot ratio, including differential and lease upgrading premiums.

Since the end of the last collective sale and before the fresh en bloc attempt, office units at the complex were transacting at between S$786 psf and S$1,858 psf, while retail units had transacted at between S$1,135 psf and S$3,632 psf, according to data from the URA.

Golden Mile Complex is zoned for commercial use under the URA's Master Plan 2019, so buyers of the collective sale site need not pay an additional buyer's stamp duty and there is no restriction on foreign ownership.

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/rea...price-of-s700m