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[UPDATE} Lim Wan Looi, wife of Fragrance Group’s boss, buys Good Class Bungalow at Bishopsgate for $65 mil

July 8, 2022 2:31 PM SGT

The Good Class Bungalow at Bishopsgate sold to Lim Wan Looi, wife of Fragrance Group founder, James Koh (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp SIngapore)

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - The Good Class Bungalow (GCB) has been very active in recent months, with three transactions done above $40 million over the past month. The latest is a Good Class Bungalow sitting on a 29,435 sq ft, freehold site at Bishopsgate sold for $65 million ($2,208 psf). The caveat was lodged in July last year, according to URA Realis. However, the property was transferred just in March this year, according to a property title search. It’s an old, single-storey bungalow that is set back from the main road, shrouded by trees. The GCB is likely to be torn down and redeveloped.

The buyer is Lim Wan Looi, wife of Fragrance Group founder and executive chairman James Koh, who has been on a buying spree of bungalow sites this year, starting with the purchase of a 25,272 sq ft, freehold GCB plot for $24.8 million on Lornie Road in Caldecott Hill Estate in January, based on a caveat lodged with URA Realis. Before that, he purchased a 21,046 sq ft, freehold bungalow site at Hillside Drive for $19.25 million ($915 psf), according to a caveat lodged last September.

The GCB at Bishopsgate that recently changed hands for $65 million sits on a freehold site of 29,435 sq ft (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)

Source: EdgeProp Inspector

At Coronation Road West, another GCB is said to have changed hands for $47.288 million ($1,661 psf). A property title search showed that a deal had taken place on July 4. The bungalow sits at the corner of Coronation Road West and Holland Road. It is an eight-bedroom mansion with a 20m swimming pool sitting on a freehold site of 28,474 sq ft.

The deal at Coronation Road West was brokered by Steve Tay, senior associate vice-president of List Sotheby’s International Realty, who declined to comment. Tay had listed the property for sale at $48 million last year.

GCB at Coronation Road West - EDGEPROP SINGAPORE

The GCB at Coronation Road West recently changed hands for $47.288 million (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp SIngapore)

CORONATION ROAD WEST - EDGEPROP SINGAPORE

Source: EdgeProp Inspector

Meanwhile, at Cornwall Gardens, off Leedon Road, a GCB sitting on a freehold site of 16,089 sq ft is said to have just changed hands recently too. The GCB designed by Chang Architects is said to have six bedrooms, a gym, entertainment spaces, a library and multiple dining rooms. It also has a roof garden, courtyard garden, swimming pool, waterfall and koi pond. The award-winning bungalow was believed to be completed sometime in 2015. A property title search shows that the bungalow is presently owned by Esmond Choo, director of UOB Kay Hian who retired at the end of April this year.

According to sources, the purchase price was $40.5 million ($2,517 psf), and the deal is said to be brokered by Knight Frank.