Portfolio of 32 strata office units at Manhattan House sold for $14.79 mil
A portfolio of 32 strata office units on the third floor of Manhattan House, a 16-storey business structure on Chin Swee Road. Based on warnings lodged, the 32 units were marketed for a sum total of $14.793 million or an ordinary price of $783 psf, based on cautions lodged as of August 5.
Manhattan House has a total amount of 269 strata office units. The 99-year leasehold building was completed in 1976. It was first sold for cumulative sale in September 2019 for $300 million. In January 2023, a second cumulative sale effort was made at a reserve rate of $280 million with JLL as the marketing company. Nonetheless, there were no takers back then.
Based upon real property title searches, the purchaser of the strata units is Abwin (HP) Pte Ltd, an entity associated to among the biggest pre-owned car dealers in Singapore, which also offers motor financing and hire purchase.
The office units seem to have been sold in two batches, with 16 transacted for a total of $7.531 million on June 27, and another 16 units on July 4 for $7.262 million.
The commercial property has a 99-year contract with effect from 1969. Thus, it has 43 continuing years. Based on latest postings, every month asking rents for units range from $3.16 psf to $4.02 psf.
Swee Shou Fern, head of financial investment advisory at ETC, that realtored the sale, says that the 32 strata office units were acquired “for financial investment”. Nevertheless, she waned to comment on the buyer.
The units belong to a portfolio of 33 strata office units that were launched for sale last October by top notch advertising and marketing agency ETC. The guide cost was after that $24.5 million. The units offered variety from 323 sq ft to 850 sq ft. Based on the overall strata location of 19,547 sq ft, the overview price turned out to $1,250 psf.
Situated in the CBD fringe, Manhattan House is within walking distance of the Chinatown MRT Interchange Station on the Downtown and North East Lines. It is also beside Pearl’s Hill City Park.
Under the 2019 Master Plan, the 4167.7 sq m (44,861 sq ft) site is zoned “commercial” with a gross plot proportion of 4.7. However, URA has indicated that the site may be rezoned to “non commercial with retail at first storey”, with a substantial portion of the site supported for a residential tower of approximately 30 storeys with a maximum gross floor area of around 21,000 sq m (226,044 sq ft).
The purchasers are most likely to be investors, wishing to take a position in the event of an effective en bloc sale of the property in the future. The units on the third level control 9% of the total strata location of the establishment, and 13% of the complete share worth.
