Special Feature

“Industrialists” making waves in the industrial property market

September 9, 2024 5:00 PM SGT

Quek Fu Jin (left) and Joshua Goh manage a new division of industrial real estate specialists which they started at Huttons Asia called “The Industrialists”. (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)

Together, Joshua Goh and Quek Fu Jin have more than 30 years of real estate experience, closing numerous deals within the Industrial real estate sector for institutional investors, MNCs, local businesses, and high-net-worth Individuals.

Their speciality lies in understanding the nuances and market trends that shape Singapore’s industrial property market, as well as the niche requirements across submarkets like factory-converted dormitories (FCDs), food factories, and advanced manufacturing.

Over the past four years, the duo has been leading and managing a new division of industrial real estate specialists which they started at Huttons Asia called “The Industrialists”.

The team’s services range across the entire real estate transaction value chain, including advising building owners and developers, providing sales and leasing services, and portfolio divestment exercises.

Goh: Our close ties with business owners, developers, and fellow co-broke agents have given us the upper hand when it comes to the quality of advice and market intel that we can offer. (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)

Industrial leaders at Huttons Asia

Today, Quek is the Head of Business Space at Huttons Asia. His professional career is built on his background in finance, investment sales, and fundraising at a leading local real estate private equity company based in Singapore. For more than 10 years, he has advised institutional and high net-worth clients on their real estate investments in Singapore, and successfully fund-raised for more than 20 local real estate development projects.

Meanwhile, Goh was a colleague in the previous company where he worked for 14 years managing the real estate agency business, before leaving as its managing director. Throughout his career, Goh was largely involved in leading the sales and marketing of industrial projects across the island and is where he built his experience and strong network. Goh also had the chance to spearhead the company’s expansion into Johor in Malaysia, where he spent more than four years building its real estate agency from the ground up. This experience allowed him to gain valuable knowledge about Johor’s industrial property segment and the developer network to assist Singapore companies to expand across the causeway.

Quek: As different economic sectors mature and specialise, the demand for curated services to support leasing and asset value will continue to grow. (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)

In 2020, both men reconnected at Savills, which subsequently merged its associate agency business with Huttons Asia. At Huttons, Goh and Quek formed a team of 20 experienced brokers, comprising many long-time colleagues and close friends. As a team, they serve the needs of investors and business owners.

Under their leadership, the Industrialists team helped Huttons to secure landmark marketing appointments, such as being one of the three exclusive marketing agents appointed by JTC to manage the leasing of several portfolios of JTC-owned industrial properties.

They were also awarded project marketing engagements for projects such as Foodfab@Mandai and Smart Food@Mandai for private developers. The Industrialists were behind headline deals such as the sale of more than a dozen cloud kitchen units at CT Hub 2, as well as selling the remaining unsold units at FoodFab@Mandai within a year of being appointed the marketing agent.

Fusionopolis in One-North is one of several portfolios of buildings which team Industrialists from Huttons are jointly appointed by JTC to market for lease with only 2 other agencies. (Picture: Joshua Goh & Fu Jin Quek)

Team strengths and on-the-ground approach

“The Industrialists have the capability, market knowledge, and client network that has enabled us to punch above our weight — we have now established and continue to grow our presence in the local industrial property market, by providing our clients with services and results at a level and standard similar to what international real estate brokerages can offer,” says Quek.

Goh points out that a key strength of their team is the ability to “stay focused and work as a team” to deliver results to their clients — highlighting their track record of leasing or selling challenging units that were often passed over. Besides focusing on strata industrial developments or so called relatively smaller deals, the duo has also led their team to close several multi-million-dollar deals that range from $5 million to $40 million.

With their strong team members’ collective experience, Goh and Quek can often lean on their extensive network of local business owners, SMEs, and MNCs to get an accurate real-time gauge of the prevailing business sentiment.

A seven-storey industrial building with a gross floor area of more than 160,000 sq ft is one of several buildings transacted by the duo. Their team of agents are conversant in dealing with JTC assignments, lease renewals as well as leases and subletting. (Picture: Joshua Goh & Fu Jin Quek)

“Our close ties with business owners, developers, and fellow co-broke agents have given us the upper hand when it comes to the quality of advice and market intel that we can offer,” says Goh.

For example, they have received strong interest from buyers for FCDs as well as tenants looking for food factory units with certain specifications. The team is also in tune with the price gap between buyers and sellers and the first-hand knowledge on the technical issues and specifications which business owners require.

Their track record spans a variety of industrial assets across different industrial estates, including the sale of a four-storey detached factory at 38 Tuas View Square that came with a 320-pax dormitory, an industrial building with a gross floor area of 161,000 sq ft at 17 Tuas Avenue 10, and a four-storey detached factory at 10 Kallang Sector that featured a premium frontage towards the Pan-Island Expressway.

Roof garden of Smart Food@Mandai, a Freehold fully ramp-up Food Factory development with highly functional specifications for food manufacturers. (Picture: Joshua Goh & Fu Jin Quek)

“Think industrial properties, think Industrialists”

As the demand for the industrial spaces continue to grow and evolve in Singapore, Goh and Quek hope to continue building up their team of Industrialists with committed and like-minded team members. “However, this will remain a highly selective group of people,” says Goh, adding that preserving the harmony of the team and its cohesion is just as important as growth.

The team can leverage on the 5,000-plus strong agent network at Huttons Asia for project marketing as they have been actively involved in organising training sessions on relevant industrial topics to provide the knowledge support for all Huttons new and existing agents. This initiative not only enhances the agents’ capabilities but also strengthens the team’s ability to reach a broader audience and achieve successful project marketing outcomes.

Fu Jin Quek (left) & Joshua Goh (right). (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)

Looking ahead, the pair aspires to provide a one-stop service solution for any stakeholder in the industrial real estate market. This includes advisory services during the design and development phase of a new project, linking prospective tenants to landlords, providing market information to support acquisitions, as well as asset divestment exercises.

“Singapore’s industrial real estate market is a bedrock of our economy, and as different economic sectors mature and specialise, the demand for curated services to support leasing and asset value will continue to grow,” says Quek.

“We are strategically positioned to provide business owners and developers a competitive advantage, catering to their real estate needs and business objectives,” adds Goh.