Ravi Chandran
Freehold corner residential shophouse at Everton Road for sale by Expression of Interest
A freehold conservation shophouse at 9 Everton Road (the “Property”), has been put up for sale via an Expression of Interest exercise by Cushman & Wakefield, the appointed exclusive marketing agent.
The freehold corner residential shophouse is a charming two-storey corner shophouse with an attic, in the Blair Plain Conservation Area which sits on a land area of 2,023 sq ft and has a built-up area of approximately 4,000 sq ft.
The site of the freehold corner residential shophouse is zoned residential under the 2019 Master Plan and it is within the prime District 2. The Outram Park MRT Station and the upcoming Cantonment MRT Station are located less than 600m away from the freehold corner residential shophouse. The area was historically a residential area for wealthy businessmen and has retained the same profile and identity over the decades.
Mr. Shaun Poh, Executive Director of Capital Markets at Cushman & Wakefield, says “This is a rare opportunity for discerning home seekers or investors looking to own shophouse assets within the Blair Plain Conservation Area as the supply is extremely limited; only four units have transacted in the last two years. A corner unit is even more scarce in supply.”
Mr Poh also added that, “Freehold landed homes in prime central districts are always highly sought after by investors for their excellent capital appreciation potential and their great appeal to expatriate tenants as such properties offer a spacious and unique living space while being conveniently located near the Central Business District.”
The indicative price for the freehold corner residential shophouse is $7.5 million. The Tender exercise closes on 20 October 2020 (Tuesday), at 3.00pm.
Everton Park is a subzone within the planning area of Bukit Merah, Singapore, as defined by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). Its boundary is made up of New Bridge Road and Eu Tong Sen Street in the north; Kampong Bahru Road in the west; the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) in the south; and Cantonment Road in the east. “Everton Park” also refers to a minor road within the subzone. The subzone took its name from this road.
Mr Paul Ho, chief mortgage officer at iCompareLoan, said: “shophouses on Everton Road is like the cross-point of Singapore’s signature old-meets-new living.”
“Just the location is the biggest selling point for property,” he added. “Despite the uncertainties surrounding Covid-19 pandemic, the US presidential election in November and the international trade tensions, Singapore is still an attractive residential market for investors.”
Although the property market exuberance has been curbed to some extent with the property cooling measures introduced last year, Singapore as a property market investment destination still remains among the top – shoulder to shoulder with other cities in the world like London, New York, Shanghai and Sydney.
“We have to be mindful that there is a lot of excess capital fluidity here and at 1.9 – 2 percent, Singapore has one of the lowest interest rates for home loans in the region,” Mr Ho added.
Everton Road has a view of the Everton Park HDB, the towering Pinnacle@Duxton, and is surrounded by other Chinatown shophouses.
The Blair Plain conservation area is a compact cluster of two-and three- storey shophouses and terrace houses of various architectural styles. Apart from some commercial uses along Kampong Road and Neil Road, the area is largely a quiet residential neighbourhood, which hugs the narrow inner streets of Blair Road, Spottiswoode Park Road and Everton Road. The area was gazetted on 25 October 1991 for conservation.
During the early years of the twentieth century, many ornately decorated buildings were constructed along Blair, Neil and Everton Roads. This was possibly due to increasing demand from well-to-do Chinese merchant families for new homes. They desired and could afford to move away from the increasingly overcrowded, unsanitary and disreputable urban areas east of Cantonment Road.
There were also other residents. A Boyanese Pondok (or communal lodging house) was located at 37-41 Everton Road. This same building was also in part, the garage for Mr Choa Kim Keat. Nearby, a Tamil language school – the Vinayaganada Tamil School was located at no. 51 Blair Road. The building and rebuilding of urban residential terraces in what has become the Blair Plain conservation area continued until the 1960s, as individual property owners chose to ‘upgrade’ their homes according to the latest in technology and fashion. There is a range of different styles of facades and building forms in the area.
The shophouses that are found mainly along Kampong Bahru Road have very simple architectural designs and single-window openings on the second-storey front facade. The terrace houses of the Transitional and Late styles along Blair Road and Neil Road have an eclectic mixture of Chinese, Malay and European design elements. Along Everton Road, there are some shophouses in the Art Deco and Modern styles.
The Chinese influence on the architectural styles is seen in the following elements:
– a courtyard plan inside the house
– a round gable at the end of the pitched roofs
– bat wing-shaped air vents above the first-storey windows
– friezes of coloured ceramic chips featuring dragon, phoenix and flower motifs
The Malay influence is visible in the timber fretwork of the roof eaves, fascia boards and balustrades design.
The European influence is evident in the fanlights, French windows, Portuguese jalousie (shuttered windows), plasterworks, panelled pintu besar or main doors) and pintu pagar ordoor gate.
British colonial influence is represented by the Corinthian pilasters on the upper storeys.
