Noel Building on Tai Seng sold for $81.18 million, 17% above the guide price

The eight-storey Noel Building at 50 Playfair Road (Photo: Edmund Tie & Co)

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - Just over a month after it was put up for sale by tender, Noel Building at 50 Playfair Road was sold for $81.18 million. The sale price is a 17% premium above the guide price of $70 million indicated by marketing agency Edmund Tie & Co. when the eight-storey building was launched for sale last month.

Located at the corner of Playfair Road and Harper Road, the 26,792 sq ft, freehold site is zoned for ‘Business 1 – White” use, which is “very rare”, according to Swee Shou Fern, head of investment advisory at Edmund Tie & Co., who brokered the sale. The site has a plot ratio of 3.5 and can be redeveloped into a new building with a maximum gross floor area of 93,771 sq ft. Hence, the purchase price of $81.18 million translates to $895 psf per plot ratio.

Word on the street is that 10 bids were received at the close of the tender. "The site was hotly contested, attracting overwhelming interest from developers, end-users and investors, both local and foreign alike," says Swee. "Some of these parties were looking to redevelop the site for food-factory use or a mixed industrial complex with a commercial component, while owner-occupiers were looking to develop the site for their corporate headquarters."

The freehold site is zoned for 'B1 industrial - white 'use, which is rare (Source: EdgeProp Landlens)

The building on Playfair Road is within the Tai Seng Business Hub, where prominent buildings include the BreadTalk IHQ, Grantral Mall @ MacPherson and 18 Tai Seng, with F&B, banking and lifestyle amenities as well as 400m from the Tai Seng MRT station.

The building's strata-titled owners at Playfair Road are expected to receive gross sale proceeds of between S$1.65 million and S$6.22 million per unit.

"The positive tender outcome is indicative evidence of investors' sustained strong confidence in the Singapore real estate market, particularly in properties with robust attributes," says Swee.

Rajah & Tann was the lawyer for the collective sale.

This latest transaction is the third collective sale brokered by Edmund Tie in 2023. In February, the firm sold Meyer Park for $392.18 million to a joint venture between UOL Group and Singapore Land Group, followed by the sale of GS Building on Lorong Ampas to boutique developer JVA Venture for $67 million.