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The days of the Singapore Tennis Centre along the East Coast Parkway may be numbered.

The landmark site, which has been occupied by Singapore Tennis Centre Pte Ltd for almost 30 years and includes the Long Beach Seafood Restaurant - is being auctioned off by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) on Tuesday.

Although STC managing director Liu Sung Tao says it will bid for the site, the 72-year-old veteran of the local tennis scene will have to compete with contenders who may have more financial muscle.

‘As a founder of this 30-year-old business, I certainly hope we can have a chance to continue to run it,’ Mr Liu told BT. ‘I sincerely hope interested bidders can be sensible on their prices, otherwise our well-known Singapore Tennis Centre brand name may disappear from East Coast Park.

‘What I am worried about is inexperienced people who may come up with an unreasonably high bidding price and then, after one or two years, when they find things difficult, may abandon it.’

STC was popular up to the early 1990s, when tournaments were held there. But its attraction has since waned, according to a seasoned industry player.

Mr Liu plans to bring in former Asian tennis star turned sports commentator and entrepreneur Vijay Amritraj, now based in Los Angeles, to run a tennis academy if he wins the bid.

China-born Mr Liu, who was involved in the textile industry in Cambodia and Singapore before opening Singapore Tennis Centre in 1977, lamented that SLA turned down his request for an automatic extension of his lease as a sitting tenant. Instead, he was told he would have to compete with other bidders at an auction for a chance to continue operating at the location.

SLA’s current policy for commercial - including recreational - sites is not to extend leases upon expiry but to conduct an open and transparent tender or auction.

STC leased the site in 1975 for 15 years, after which it exercised an option for a further 15 years. When the second term expired in July last year, SLA granted STC a temporary occupation licence pending an auction.

Mr Liu said he spent $1.5 million developing the tennis courts and clubhouse during the initial 15-year term, and a further $6 million in the second term on an adjacent recreational centre. He said he has yet to recoup his investment, after factoring in the opportunity cost of selling three freehold properties to help finance the STC venture.

He sold a bungalow at Grange Road for about $370,000 in the 1970s to invest in the first phase of STC. It would have been worth about $6.2 million today, he says. Then in the 1990s he sold two apartments in the Balmoral area for about $900,000 each to invest in STC’s Phase 2 development.

SLA is offering the property - with a land area of 174,290 sq ft and an estimated gross floor area (GFA) of 67,339 sq ft - for three years starting Sept 1, 2006, with a renewal option for two further terms of three years each.

The property comprises 10 tennis courts, a two-storey block, a single-storey block and 95 parking lots. SLA has strictly specified commercial and sports and recreation use only, with no religious or racial activity permitted. Up to 40 per cent of the overall GFA may be set aside for commercial use. The guide rent indicated to bidders is $52,000 a month.

STC began operating in January 1977, and the highlight of its grand opening two months later was an all-star exhibition featuring four professionals, including Wimbledon legend Margaret Court.

Mr Liu, a former president of the Singapore Lawn Tennis Association, was widely acknowledged as a passionate tennis entrepreneur in the 1970s. He built STC in hopes of making Singapore the tennis centre of South-east Asia, according to media reports at the time.

Knight Frank will handle the Tuesday auction at the Carlton Hotel.

Mr Liu, who has set up a venture to run 10 serviced office units in rented premises starting in May in Beijing’s Central Business District, said he may return to China if he is unsuccessful at next week’s auction.

Source : Business Times - 23 Feb 2006

The Paya Lebar Crescent house of former Citiraya CEO Ng Teck Lee, whose whereabouts are unknown, is going up for auction on Tuesday with an indicative price of $2.3 million to $2.4 million.

The two-storey freehold detached house - 97 Paya Lebar Crescent - is being put up for sale by its mortgagee bank, which is understood to be United Overseas Bank.

Knight Frank is conducting the auction. The property has a land area of about 7,308 sq ft and a gross floor area of about 5,000 sq ft. The bungalow has four bedrooms, each with an attached bathroom.

The property was in the news in March last year when it was advertised in The Sunday Times’ classified section. The ad had a housing agent’s contact number and the agent subsequently said the ‘very serious seller’ who had ‘emigrated’ was asking for $3.4 million, BT reported at the time. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) then stepped in to say that no sale would be allowed pending the bureau’s investigations at Citiraya.

CPIB said then it had asked the Registrar of Titles & Deeds to lodge a caveat on the property. A title search yesterday showed a Registrar’s caveat lodged on the property on March 8, 2005.

Potential buyers may wish to note that next week’s auction conditions for the property state that it is being sold free from encumbrances. If, however, the vendor (in this case, the mortgagee bank) is unable to remove any caveat charge order or other encumbrance, the sale will be cancelled and any deposit paid will be refunded to the buyer.

Ng is understood to have bought the house for $2.6 million in 2000. He is now at large, and the property is being offered with vacant possession.

Eleven people have been charged so far with corruption at Citiraya, an electronic-waste recycler.

Of the eleven, nine have been jailed. The jailed people include Ng’s younger brother, Teck Boon, who was formerly Citiraya’s assistant general manager. He was sentenced to eight years’ jail.

Citiraya, listed on the Singapore Exchange, has filed for judicial management. Knight Frank auctioneer Mary Sai, who confirmed that the house will go under the hammer on Tuesday, said the property has drawn a fair amount of interest since it appeared on its auction list - from those intrigued by its previous occupant as well as potential buyers.

Source : Business Times - 22 Feb 2006

A SIX-STOREY freehold service apartment block in Tiong Bahru was snapped up on Wednesday at an auction for $10.2 million.

The property at 3 Seng Poh Road was bought by a small investor who was represented by a lawyer, according to Colliers International, which conducted the auction. The property was put up for sale by mortgagee United Overseas Bank. The mortgagor was Kim Koon Garment Industries, according to an earlier report.

The property has a land area of 9,143 sq ft and a gross floor area of 27,451 sq ft. The building has an eating house on the first storey, a car park on the second and third storeys, and 61 service apartments occupying the upper levels. Colliers had earlier said that buyers may continue operating the building as a service apartment or apply to convert it into a boarding house or budget hotel. Bidding for the building began at $9 million and the property attracted 12 bids in all before it was sold.

Colliers also sold two strata office units at the auction. One was an 18th floor unit at High Street Centre, which changed hands at $325,000 or $593 psf. The other was a 19th floor unit at International Plaza which fetched $470,000 or $502 psf.

Source : Business Times - 10 Feb 2006