The price translates to S$2,669 per square foot (US$22,486 per square meter) based on the freehold property’s maximum permissible gross floor area of 30,728 square feet (2,855 square meters) zoned for commercial use, EdgeProp Singapore reported.
It also marks a 48.8% premium over the S$55.1 million that Koh paid for the building in 2022, according to The Business Times.
The expression-of-interest exercise for the property will end on Sept. 22.
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The Verdun House building in Singapore. Photo from Google Maps |
Constructed in the 1980s, Verdun House sits on a 7,316-square-foot corner plot spanning 6, 8, 10 and 12 Verdun Road in District 8. It has an existing gross floor area of 22,730 square feet.
It has four retail units at ground level and 12 apartments on its three upper floors, according to a notice by Cushman & Wakefield, the appointed marketing agent. The apartments were earlier reconfigured for co-living after Koh bought the property.
Verdun House is within walking distance of Farrer Park and Jalan Besar MRT stations. The former station is two stops away from Dhoby Ghaut interchange, which is close to the Bras Basah-Bugis precinct—home to institutions such as Singapore Management University, School of the Arts, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and Lasalle College of the Arts.
The property offers a gross rental yield of nearly 3%, as against the 1-2% currently generated by freehold shophouses, Sophia Lim, director of capital markets at Cushman & Wakefield, told EdgeProp.
Koh is the executive chairman and CEO of Fragrance Group, a property developer he started in the 1990s after breaking away from Aspial, his family’s jewelry business.
He was once dubbed the “Geylang King” for Fragrance’s start in Geylang, Singapore’s red light district. The firm’s portfolio now includes projects in Singapore, Australia and the UK.
Forbes ranked Koh 21st among Singapore’s richest people last September, estimating his fortune at US$2.1 billion.