Noel Building in Tai Seng up for collective sale at $70 mil

By Atiqah Mokhtar

October 12, 2023 6:26 PM SGT

The property is an eight-storey freehold building zoned for "Business 1 - White" use (Picture: Edmund Tie)

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SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - Noel Building, a freehold development at 50 Playfair Road in the Tai Seng area, is up for collective sale with a guide price fo $70 million. The eight-storey building occupies a 26,791 sq ft site zoned for “Business 1 - White” use with a plot ratio of 3.5. It is 400m away from the Tai Seng MRT Station on the Circle Line.

Map and overview for Noel Building. It is located adjacent to the former Citimac (marked in yellow), which was sold en bloc for $430.1 million in 2019 and is now Grantral Mall @ MacPherson (Source: EdgeProp LandLens)

“Sites zoned for 'Business 1 - White' use is scarce, with only a few clusters across Singapore,” notes Swee Shou Fern, head of investment advisory at Edmund Tie, which marketing the property. She believes the property at 50 Playfair Road offers a unique opportunity for owner-occupiers looking to develop and custom-build their corporate headquarters. Another option is to redevelop the property into strata factories for full light industrial use.

The site can be redeveloped to have a maximum gross floor area of 93,770 sq ft, with an option to use the entire space for Business 1 or light industrial use, Alternatively, at least 66,978 sq ft can be set aside for light industrial use, while the remaining 26,791 sq ft can be allocated for “White” use, says Edmund Tie. Uses permissible under this zoning include shops, cafes and restaurants, showrooms, offices, associations and recreational clubs, among others, subject to the approval of relevant authorities.

The guide price for Noel Building works out to a land rate of $776 to $986 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr), depending on the proportion of industrial and white use.

Swee observes that quality strata factories located near public transportation nodes such as MRT and well-served by amenities continue to be highly sought after. “This is evidenced by the nearby AZ@Paya Lebar completed in 2014, where prices of strata factories have increased some 6% from an average of $1,389 per sq ft in 2H2022 to $1,472 per sq ft in 1H2023,” she says.

Swee adds that the last notable transaction for a site with "Business 1 - White" zoning in the private sector was the collective sale of Citimac, which is now Grantral Mall @ MacPherson. The site was sold en bloc for $430.1 million ($1,047 psf ppr) in 2017. The deal was brokered by Edmund Tie.