Serial biopharma entrepreneur’s wife buys bungalow behind Four Seasons Park for S$32.5 million

ACTIVITY is stirring in the landed property market, with three freehold bungalows on plot sizes of about 10,000 square feet (sq ft) each transacted last month.

One is near the One Tree Hill area, another off Dunearn Road near Raffles Town Club, and the third along Sixth Avenue.

In Jalan Tupai, an old bungalow ripe for redevelopment behind the Four Seasons Park condominium near Orchard Road is being sold for S$32.5 million or S$3,093 per square foot (psf) on a land area of 10,507 sq ft.

The Business Times understands that the District 10 property is being bought by Cai Jun, the wife of Huang Zhenhua, who has been described on the Internet as a serial entrepreneur. He was an executive director and shareholder of Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group. The company was delisted from the Singapore Exchange in 2009 after a S$458 million takeover offer.

Huang, who hails from Shandong, oversaw the group’s research and development functions, leading a team of more than 100 scientists and researchers. He holds degrees in pharmacy from Shenyang Pharmaceutical University. Among the businesses he set up was Shandong Xuanzhu Biopharm in 2002. The couple later sold the company to Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings – an initial 60 per cent stake in 2008 and the balance 40 per cent in 2012.

With proceeds from the sale, Huang founded KBP BioSciences in 2011. The company, headquartered in Singapore, has offices in China and the US.

Sihuan subsequently acquired a 30 per cent stake in the controlling entity of KBP in 2012. In a news release issued by KBP BioSciences in October 2023, Huang was cited as the company’s founder and chairman.

The couple are Singapore citizens.

The Jalan Tupai bungalow, which Cai is buying from a family, is within a two-storey semi-detached landed housing area; this allows the site to be developed for either semi-detached or bungalow housing.

Property analysts said an end-user buyer would likely redevelop the site into a big bungalow. A developer may consider a scheme comprising a pair of semi-detached houses and a small bungalow, subject to approval from the authorities.

Observers noted that in March 2023, three adjoining old freehold bungalows in Chancery Hill Road/Dyson Road fetched S$1,900 psf on the 32,148 sq ft of land designated for two-storey mixed landed housing. Proceeds of the S$61.1 million sale went to charities designated by the owner.

The significantly higher psf on land price for the Jalan Tupai transaction reflects its superior location and smaller land area, said an analyst.

In Dalkeith Road, off Dunearn Road, another old bungalow is changing hands for S$24.88 million or S$2,500 psf on the land area of 9,953 sq ft. The property is in a two-storey bungalow area.

The transaction was brokered by Realstar Premier. Its managing director, Julian Yip, said the transacted price is fair to both the buyer and the seller. “We received a few offers from developers but the owner accepted the highest offer. This is a regular-shaped plot in one of the most prime bungalow areas in District 11 outside of Good Class Bungalow (GCB) Areas.”

Yip estimated that it may cost about S$4 million to S$5 million for an end-user buyer to build a new bungalow on the site, resulting in a total cost of about S$30 million; this works out to slightly over S$3,000 psf on land area. In comparison, a brand-new bungalow in the location would sell for S$3,500 psf or more. The Dalkeith Road property can be redeveloped into two bungalows, subject to approval from the authorities, Yip added.

BT understands the property is being sold by an elderly person to Melissa Shen, a former lawyer who set up her own fashion label, Ms Soignee, about a decade ago.

In the Fourth/Sixth Avenue GCB Area, property developer Platform Property is selling a new bungalow under construction – and expected to be completed soon – for S$27.5 million or S$2,985 psf on the land area of 9,214 sq ft.

The bungalow has two storeys, a basement and an attic. It has a 15-metre lap pool and five ensuite bedrooms, with the possibility of adding a sixth bedroom. The basement will include eight car parking spaces. The buyer is understood to be Lau Teck Sien, who is an independent director on the board of the manager of BHG Retail Reit. The property fronts Sixth Avenue and is near a bus stop.

 According to data from List Sotheby’s International Realty, prices of detached homes in Singapore on a psf of land area basis continued to trend upwards last year, rising 8.4 per cent year on year to S$1,699 psf.

Bungalows in the 39 gazetted GCB Areas are the most prestigious form of landed housing in Singapore, with strict planning conditions to preserve their exclusivity and low-rise character. Among other things, a minimum plot size of 1,400 square metres or 15,070 sq ft is stipulated as the planning norm for newly created bungalows in GCB Areas.