HPL’s $61m bid tops en bloc offers for Ming Arcade
Far East also keen in first collective sale of commercial building
IN WHAT could become Singapore’s first collective sale of an all-commercial building, Ming Arcade on Cuscaden Road could be about to change hands.
Hotel Properties Ltd (HPL), which has a significant presence near the arcade, is said to have made the highest offer so far, of about $61 million, for the freehold property.
Agent Jones Lang LaSalle is looking for agreement for an en bloc sale from owners controlling the minimum 80 per cent of share value at Ming Arcade.
HPL’s offer reflects a unit land cost of $1,200 psf of potential gross floor area. No development charge is payable.
Far East Organization, which owns Orchard Parade Hotel right next to Ming Arcade, is also believed to have bid for Ming Arcade.
While it remains to be seen who eventually ends up buying the property and at what price, the collective sale of Ming Arcade could help to blaze the trail for other strata commercial properties in the vicinity - including Far East Plaza, Far East Shopping Centre and Delphi Orchard - and help rejuvenate Singapore’s prime shopping belt.
Ming Arcade was completed in the 1980s by the late Ho Kok Cheong. It stands on a 12,132 sq ft site zoned for commercial use with a 4.2 plot ratio (ratio of potential gross floor area to land area) and a maximum height of 20 storeys.
Jones Lang LaSalle, which is marketing Ming Arcade, declined to comment when contacted yesterday.
The property consultancy said in August that the site has potential for several redevelopment options such as a small office, home office (Soho) development, corporate headquarters, a high-end boutique, retail or mixed development.
Part of the new development could also be used for medical suites, given strong demand for such properties, JLL said at the time.
BT has reported that HPL owns five of Ming Arcade’s 88 units. The group’s presence in the area covers HPL House (just opposite Ming Arcade), Four Seasons Hotel, Hilton Hotel and The Forum.
Owners of several other commercial properties are also headed for the en bloc trail, but generally, property industry veterans reckon the number of commercial collective sale deals is likely to be lower than that for residential collective sales.
The method of working out who gets what from the proceeds of an en bloc sale is particularly complex for retail properties, where factors such as the floor level, a shop’s distance from an escalator and its orientation may affect its value - assuming that owners are prepared to sell anyway.
Source : Business Times - 31 Oct 2006
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