32 and 34 Gilstead Bungalow Sold to Kheong Leong Group for $70m

Kheng Leong is the family-owned and operated real estate business of Wee Cho Yaw, a seasoned banker who is also the chairman emeritus of UOB.

The company that acted as a broker for the sale, Edmund Tie & Company, has chosen not to comment on the transaction or confirm the unit land pricing for the purchase of 32 and 34 Gilstead Bungalow.

A rough estimate performed by The Business Times indicates that the price comes out to around S$1,643 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), which takes into account the cost of development.

A Teo family member is looking to unload the property and is selling it.

According to a statement that was made by Edmund Tie in September 2021 when it put 32 and 34 Gilstead Bungalow for sale through a tender exercise, the land has the potential to be turned into a condominium complex that may have as many as 56 units, provided that the project receives planning clearance.

32 and 34 Gilstead Bungalow is in close proximity to places that have been classified as landed dwelling zones. In addition, Anglo-Chinese School Junior, Anglo-Chinese School Primary, and St. Joseph’s Institution Junior are all located within one kilometer of the property.

In the meanwhile, Melvin Poh, the founder of Fission Group together with his brother Jason have purchased an older home on Gilstead Road for the price of S$17 million via a corporation that is controlled by them both. The Novena MRT station and its adjacent cluster of retail, hotel, and medical amenities are just a short distance away from the property.

On a land size of 10,504 square feet, the price comes out to be S$1,618 per square foot.

Melvin Poh informed BT, upon being contacted, that he intends to rebuild the site into two homes, each of which would have three storeys and an attic. It is likely that each bungalow will feature six bedrooms in addition to a swimming pool.

An Ong family has decided to sell their home and land. Bernard Wu, who is a group division director at ERA Realty Network, acted as the intermediary in the private-treaty transaction.

Separately, the family of Soilbuild Group Holdings president Lim Chap Huat is selling a historic freehold house located along Meyer Road for the price of S$32.68 million, which works out to S$1,280 per square foot on the land size of 25,525 square feet. The home, which is around 70 years old, can be found in a neighborhood that is reserved for bungalows with two stories.

It is generally agreed that the purchaser is Ng Cheng Chuan’s son, who works as the chairman of Bursa Malaysia-listed property firm Ibraco.

Ibraco’s headquarters may be found in Kuching, which is located in Sarawak. According to the information that is available on the website of the business, Ng is also the chairman of Crossland Marketing (2000) as well as numerous other firms in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand that deal mostly with warehousing, farming, and soft commodities.

It is generally accepted that both Ng and his son are citizens of Singapore.

Around this time last year, the option to acquire 32 and 34 Gilstead Bungalow located on Meyer Road was given; however, the option wasn’t exercised until the beginning of January of this year.

It is widely believed that Jack Tok of KF Property Network was the one who mediated the purchase; however, he refused to comment.

William Wong, founder of Realstar Premier, said that the property is situated on a plot at Meyer Road and has a regular form. Meyer Road is well known beautiful landed property at East Coast.

He thought that the price of S$1,280 psf was reasonable for such a huge plot, especially considering that the transaction had taken place in the first few months of the previous year. “In the present market, this plot might have fetched roughly S$1,500-1,600 psf on land area following the large run-up in prices last year despite the mid-December 2021 cooling measures,” Wong noted. “This plot is located in an area that has seen a lot of price increases in recent years.”

According to the findings of analysts, a typical developer would partition 32 and 34 Gilstead Bungalow that was going to be redeveloped into three bungalows that would be put up for sale. The rumor going around, on the other hand, is that the Ng family would most likely remodel the property so that they may occupy it themselves.