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[SINGAPORE] The freehold Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre, a six-storey strata-titled building completed in 1982, is being marketed in a collective sale at a guide price of S$260 million.

Along with the Upper Serangoon Road building, an adjoining land plot is also up for sale separately via private treaty. Combining the two sites will yield a total site area of 5443.3 square metres (sq m).

The two sites may be amalgamated and rebuilt into a mixed-use development, said sole marketing agent CBRE. Alternatively, the Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre site can be refurbished into a newer retail mall. 

Michael Tay, CBRE head of capital markets for Singapore, said the consultancy will be submitting an outline planning permission to authorities for the development of both land parcels into a mixed-use development comprising serviced apartments, retail and residential components. 

Redevelopment can potentially yield around 154 homes and 56 serviced apartments, with 12,000 square feet (sq ft) of commercial space in total. This will be subject to authorities’ approval and assumes an average home size of 85 sq m and 35 sq m for serviced apartments.

With a gross floor area of 176,792 sq ft, the guide price of S$260 million for Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre translates to a land rate of S$1,471 per square feet per plot ratio. 

It represents a premium of up to 50 per cent of its existing market value, chairman of the collective sale committee (CSC) Mathews Thomas told The Business Times. 

In the past decade, just two residential units at Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre have been sold. Most recently in November 2021, a 1,292 sq ft unit on the sixth floor changed hands for S$1.4 million or S$1,107 psf. 

Meanwhile, 22 commercial units have been transacted over the same period, with four sold in 2024 alone. The latest in July 2024 was a 248 sq ft unit on the third floor, which changed hands at S$580,000 or S$2,343 psf. 

The six-storey Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre comprises two interconnected blocks with eight homes, one office and 164 retail shops.

It includes two sites – one at the front along Upper Serangoon Road, which is zoned as commercial and residential under the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s 2019 Master Plan, with a gross plot ratio of 3.0, and another at the back, closer to Taman Sireh, which is zoned as residential with a gross plot ratio of 2.8. 

This is the development’s first attempt at an en bloc sale. The owners had previously made bids to sell the property but failed to meet the required consensus. This time, just under 90 per cent of owners have consented to the collective sale to date, well above the requisite 80 per cent consensus.  

Thomas believes that the sale is “conservatively priced” to attract boutique developers and family offices, given the site’s redevelopment potential and the anticipated relocation of Paya Lebar Airbase, which is expected to be operational in the 2030s. 

In his National Day Rally in 2022, then prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said the airbase’s relocation will free up land for 150,000 new homes, as well as lift some building height restrictions around the area.  

This will allow for the redevelopment of towns such as Hougang, Marine Parade and Punggol, he added. 

Thomas said: “The CSC anticipates strong interest from local and international buyers, and possibly bids above the guide price.”

Meanwhile, Tay of CBRE reckons that the residential development will attract strong buying interest from both the “well-heeled in the surrounding private residential estates and public housing upgraders”. 

The tender for Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre will open on Apr 8 and close on Jun 10.