Portfolio of 32 strata office units at Manhattan House sold for $14.79 mil
A portfolio of 32 strata office units on the 3rd floor of Manhattan House, a 16-storey commercial structure on Chin Swee Road. Based on warnings lodged, the 32 units were sold for a total amount of $14.793 million or an ordinary rate of $783 psf, based upon caveats lodged as of August 5.
The buyers are likely to be investors, hoping to take a position in the event of an effective en bloc sale of the property in the future. The units on the 3rd floor control 9% of the overall strata location of the property, and 13% of the total share worth.
Swee Shou Fern, head of investment advisory at ETC, that realtored the sale, states that the 32 strata office units were bought “for financial investment”. However, she waned to discuss the customer.
The units belong to a collection of 33 strata office units that were introduced for sale last October by top notch advertising and marketing agency ETC. The overview rate was after that $24.5 million. The units offered array from 323 sq ft to 850 sq ft. Based upon the total strata location of 19,547 sq ft, the guide price worked out to $1,250 psf.
The office units seem to have been sold in two batches, with 16 settled for a total of $7.531 million on June 27, and another 16 units on July 4 for $7.262 million.
Under the 2019 Master Plan, the 4167.7 sq m (44,861 sq ft) site is zoned “commercial” with a gross plot ratio of 4.7. However, URA has indicated that the site might be rezoned to “residential with commercial at first storey”, with a considerable section of the site supported for a residential tower of as much as 30 storeys with a maximum gross floor area of around 21,000 sq m (226,044 sq ft).
Found in the CBD fringe, Manhattan House is inside walking distance of the Chinatown MRT Interchange Station on the Downtown and North East Lines. It is also adjacent to Pearl’s Hill City Park.
Manhattan House has a total amount of 269 strata office units. The 99-year leasehold building was finished in 1976. It was first put on the market for cumulative sale in September 2019 for $300 million. In January 2023, a second collective sale effort was made at a reservation rate of $280 million with JLL as the advertising agency. Nevertheless, there were no takers at the time.
Based on real property title searches, the customer of the strata units is Abwin (HP) Pte Ltd, an entity connected to among the biggest pre-owned car dealers in Singapore, that also provides motor financing and hire acquisition.
The commercial building has a 99-year lease with effect from 1969. Hence, it has 43 continuing years. Based on latest lists, monthly asking rents for units range from $3.16 psf to $4.02 psf.
