SLA Rents Out 3 Properties For Office Use, Offers 2 More

Source : The Business Times, December 13, 2007

Successful bid for former police HQ in Pearl's Hill Terrace is 40% above guide

THE Singapore Land Authority (SLA) has awarded three state-owned properties for rental through a public tender. And the successful bids were 17-40 per cent above the guide rents it had set.

The former Police Headquarters at 195 Pearl's Hill Terrace, the former Haig Boy's School in Mountbatten Road and a former office and showroom at 169 Sims Avenue went for monthly rents of $53,501, $139,003, and $7,700 respectively.

All three sites are for office use.

The top bid of $53,501 for the Pearl's Hill Terrace property works out to almost 40 per cent more than the guide rent.

The property, which has a gross floor area (GFA) of 145,431.2 square feet cost roughly $2.70 per square foot per month (psf pm).

Businessman Tan Yong Boon, who won the tender, said: 'We plan to sub-let units to new start-up companies and those who have been forced out of their existing offices.'

The Mountbatten Road property, which has an estimated GFA of 96,039.9 sq ft, fetched a top bid of $116,000 or 20 per cent above the guide rent. This works out to $0.70 psf pm.

Ritzland Investment, which won the tender, plans to pump in $2 million to refurbish the property.

The winning bid of $7,700 psf pm for the Sims Avenue property, with a GFA of 4,151.6 sq ft, was 17 per cent above SLA's guide rent and works out to $0.54 psf pm.

It was awarded to businessman Koh Teck Lee who plans to sub-let the units within three months after a $300,000 refurbishment.

A fourth property, the former Queenstown Neighbourhood Police Station, with a GFA of 12,780 sq ft, drew a top bid of $55,888 - more than double the guide rent. The bids for this property are still being evaluated.

SLA also said that two more sites have been put up for public tender.

The first, the former Upper Aljunied Technical School at 102 Upper Aljunied Road, was first put up for tender in October for short-term office use. There were no takers.

The site, with GFA of 83,118.9 sq ft, has now been re-designated for office and mixed use.

The second site is the former Alexandra fire station at 55 Queensway. Also for office and mixed use, the property has a GFA of 34,548.9 sq ft.