Ravi Chandran
Knight Frank announced on July 14 that it is pleased to be appointed as the exclusive marketing agent for the sale of commercial property at Suntec City and an industrial building at 58 Bendemeer Road.
Industrial Building in Kallang Industrial Estate
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Genova Building a corner, 6-storey light industrial building prominently located at the junction of Bendemeer Road and Jalan Lembah Kallang, within Kallang Industrial Estate. Built in 2003 with a modern, corporate finish, the building comprises a showroom with a mezzanine floor, warehousing and production areas, as well as office spaces. It sits on a land area of 6,060 sq ft and has a gross floor area of approximately 17,854 sq ft. Under the Master Plan 2019, the land is zoned Business 1 with a plot ratio of 2.5. Unique to the building are its generous ceiling heights across floors, standing at the 8 metres on the ground floor and 6 metres on several other floors. The spacious loading and unloading bay can also accommodate 40-foot vehicles.
Other prominent properties in the vicinity include Luzerne Building, Hyflux Innovation Centre and Kian Hua Building. Also conveniently situated close by are both Boon Keng and Bendemeer MRT stations.
Mary Sai, Executive Director, Capital Markets (Strata Sales), Knight Frank Singapore, observes, “Smallish industrial buildings within the city fringe that can be employed for both corporate offices whilst housing light manufacturing or warehousing uses are few and far between. With e-commerce flourishing globally, the need for warehousing spaces in convenient locations are increasingly sought after.”
The guide price for Genova Building, which has a balance lease of 44 years, is S$12 million to S$13 million. The sale of the property via an Expression of Interest exercise closes on 20 August 2020, at 3pm.
Commercial property at Suntec City – a strata office unit
Located on a high floor, the commercial property, a strata office unit at Suntec Tower 1 has great city views and partial sea views. It has a floor area of 3,897 sq ft, is column free and also regular in shape, allowing a possible partitioning into two smaller offices. The commercial property also has two separate entrances. As more work from home during the cautionary Covid-19 period, smaller offices in the Central Business District have grown in popularity, given its easy accessibility and locational attributes that afford the maintenance of a presence in the marketplace.
A massive integrated commercial development located within the Marina Bay Precinct, Suntec City comprises of Suntec City Office Towers, Suntec City Mall and Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre. The development is within quick walking distance from the City Hall MRT interchange, Promenade MRT interchange and Esplanade MRT station.
“Sales of offices in Suntec City have been robust, with at least five transactions recently concluded in Tower 1. The latest unit sold on the 37th storey transacted at S$2,890 psf in May this year, whilst another unit on the 33rd storey in Tower 2 also transacted at a high of S$3,209 psf earlier in January,” notes Sai.
She adds, “The guide price of S$2,900 psf for the subject unit is in line with recent office transactions at Suntec City and is reflective of current market sentiments. The unit is likely to appeal to owner-occupiers and investors, who believe in commercial properties as safe haven assets.”
Suntec City is a major mixed-use development located in Marina Centre, a subzone of the Downtown Core in Singapore, which combines a shopping mall, office buildings, and a convention centre. Construction began on 18 January 1992 (with earthworks) followed by full completion and opening on 22 July 1997.
Suntec City was designed by Tsao & McKown Architects with emphasis on Chinese feng shui. The five buildings and the convention center are arranged so that they look like a left hand when viewed aerially. The Fountain of Wealth appears like a golden ring in the palm of the hand. As the fountain is made of bronze, it is believed that the balance of metal and water paves the way for success. Further, the specially selected Chinese name, 新达, means “new achievement”.
The Suntec office towers comprise five buildings named Towers One through Five with four containing 45 stories and one 18 stories. The latter has 28,000 square feet of net lettable floor area on each floor while the 45-storey towers consist of floor plates ranging from 10,000 to 14,000 square feet. In total, there are about 2.3 million square feet of office space. Tower One to Four is 45-storey representing the 4 fingers and Tower 5 is 18-storey representing the thumb.
Suntec City Office Towers houses a number of foreign diplomatic/non-diplomatic missions that are resident in Singapore. Embassy of Spain on the 39th floor of Tower 1, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office on the 34th floor of Tower 2, Embassy of Rwanda on the 14th floor of Tower 3, Embassy of Chile on the 24th floor of Tower 3, Embassy of Qatar on the 41st floor of Tower 3, and the Taiwan Trade Center on the 9th floor of Tower 4.
- The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) mentioned Suntec City as one of the largest commercial developments in Singapore.
- Suntec City was awarded two FIABCI Prix d’ Excellence awards for excellence in all aspects of real estate development (Overall winner and Commercial / Retail winner) in 1999. Suntec has claimed other prizes, including the 1998 Tourism Award from the Singapore Tourism Board.
- Suntec City has been featured three times on The Amazing Race reality television show. Once on the US version Season 3 and twice on the Asian version in both Season 1 and Season 2.
