Freehold strata-titled property at Tagore Lane for sale at $100 million

A freehold strata-titled property is being offered with an opportunity to invest in self storage business

Cushman & Wakefield said on October 7th that it is representing EBC Lifestyle Hub Pte Ltd, a self-storage business, to sell a freehold development at 50 Tagore Lane, Entrepreneur Centre by Expression of Interest. EBC Lifestyle Hub Pte Ltd owns the entire building.

The freehold strata-titled property, comprising individual units granted separate Strata Certificate of Titles, is being offered for sale together with an opportunity to purchase the vendor’s self-storage business.

The freehold strata-titled property consists of a part five-storey warehouse with an extension of a part four-storey warehouse. The self storage facility offers personal storage, business storage, wine storage as well as serviced offices.

It sits on a Business 1 zoning, located within Tagore Industrial Estate, along Tagore Lane, off Thomson Road. The site is accessible via Central Expressway and Seletar Expressway.

Brenda Ong, Executive Director, Logistics & Industrial, said “Self storage is a viable option for the urban consumer faced with reduced apartment sizes. On the business front, wholesalers, small & medium enterprise businesses and e-commerce owners are attracted by the wide array of space-saving solutions for their business as they seek cost efficiency and operational flexibility in this current climate.”

50 Tagore Lane was built in 1986, with an extension of a four-storey completed in 1993. The freehold strata-titled property underwent several refurbishment works between 2011 and 2018.

“There is potential to convert bare warehouse units to self-storage, non-airconditioned self-storage units to airconditioned self-storage units and convert fitted office units to modern serviced office as a future value-add enhancement opportunity” Ms Ong added.

The indicative price for the freehold strata-titled property is $100 million.

Investors in the freehold strata-titled property will also be able to tap on ready revenue through the rental of the units offering space-saving self storage, personal storage of collectibles, the rental of warehouses and services being offered to existing customers including a childcare centre, F&B outlets and serviced offices.

The freehold strata-titled property is surrounded by mature residential estate zonings at Yio Chu Kang, Ang Mo Kio and Yishun.

It is accessible via Central Expressway (CTE) and Seletar Expressway (SLA) and public transportation services along Upper Thomason Road. The nearby future Lentor MRT Station (TE5) to be opened later this year is approximately five-minutes’ drive away.

It is about a 25 to 30-minute drive from the Singapore Changi Airport, major commercial ports terminals and Woodlands Checkpoint.

The Expression of Interest for the freehold strata-titled property ends on Wednesday 4 November 2020.

A recent research report said that Asia-Pacific warehouse rents growth expected to average between 3% to 5% by the end of 2020. Knight Frank on September 18 released its Asia-Pacific Warehouse Review which tracked prime Asia-Pacific warehouse rents across 17 key cities, registering an average change of -0.02% half-on-half despite COVID-19. Going forward, Knight Frank expects average rental growth between 3% to 5% by the end of 2020.

Highlights of Asia-Pacific Warehouse Rents:

• Asia-Pacific warehouse rents market conditions for 16 of the 17 cities tracked are expected to remain stable or improve over the next 12 months. The positive outlook for growth in the second half of 2020 is due to higher space appetite from e-commerce players and essential commodities.
• Tokyo recorded the highest half-on half rental growth at 4.2%, due to healthy take up rates and the lack of available prime assets within the city.
• Shanghai warehouse markets recorded the healthiest rental growth compared to Beijing and Guangzhou, at 3% half-on-half, led in part by a pickup in storage demand from cold chain operators.

Tim Armstrong, Head of Occupier Services & Commercial Agency, Asia Pacific at Knight Frank says, “The outlook for industrial markets remains resilient due to robust demand from the e-commerce and essential goods sectors, as well as additional requirements for inventory storage to mitigate supply chain disconnects.”

Daniel Ding, Head of Capital Markets for Land & Building, International Real Estate & Industrial, Knight Frank Singapore, shares, “It has become clear that the winner coming out of this health crisis is very much some specialist sub-sectors within the industrial asset class, including institutional-grade warehouses. We expect rents to stabilise and gradually trend upwards in the coming months.”

Asia-Pacific Prime Warehouse Rents

Source: Knight Frank Research / *Sanko Estate

Industrial property market emerged one of the most resilient across the property sectors says a recent analysis of JTC Q2 2020 Industrial property statistics.

Ms Tricia Song, Colliers International’s Head of Research for Singapore, commenting analysing that industrial property market emerged among most resilient sectors from the JTC Q2 2020 Industrial property statistics said:

“The Singapore industrial property market emerged one of the most resilient across the property sectors (retail, office, hotel, residential), amid the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as seen by continued warehouse demand supported by the accelerated adoption of e-commerce and government’s stockpiling of essential goods.

“That said, overall industrial rental and price declines were more pronounced in Q2 2020 than in Q1 2020, capturing the ground sentiments and impact of COVID-19 Circuit Breaker measures which started on 7 April 2020. With the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation, the industrial sector is likely to experience continued pressures on rents and prices, as with other sectors.

“Overall, we are cautious about Singapore industrial market’s outlook for this year, and forecast the general industrial market to remain weak in 2020.”