Noel Building at 50 Playfair Road was sold for $81.18 million after it was placed on tender. Tthe eight-storey building sold for a 17% premium over the estimate price of $70 million stated by marketing firm Edmund Tie & Co and set to be rebuild to Food Point.
Situated at the junction of Playfair Road and Harper Road, the 26,492 square foot freehold property is classified for “Business 1 – White,” which is “very rare,” says Edmund Tie & Co.’s head of investment advising, Swee Shou Fern, who negotiated the transaction. With a 3.5 plot ratio, the land may be rebuilt into a new development with a maximum gross floor size of 93,777 sq ft. Consequently, the $81.18 million acquisition price converts to $895 psf per plot ratio.
On the street, word-of-mouth is that eleven offers came in at tender’s closure. “The site was hotly contested, attracting overwhelmingly interest from developers, end- users and investors, both local and foreign alike,” explains Swee. “Some of these parties were looking to build a mixed industrial complex with a commercial component or a food-factory, while owner-occupiers were looking to build their corporate headquarters on the site.”
Within the Tai Seng Business Hub, the Playfair Road building has notable structures such the BreadTalk IHQ, Grantral Mall @ MacPherson, 18 Tai Seng, with F&B, banking and lifestyle conveniences, and 400m from the Tai Seng MRT station
The strata-titled owners of the Playfair Road building are likely to get gross selling profits ranging from S$1.65 million to S$6.22 million per unit.
“The positive tender outcome is indicative evidence of investors’ continuous strong confidence in the Singapore real estate market, particularly in properties with robust attributes,” adds Swee.