Sceneca Square sells for S$64 million; money launderer’s Beach Road retail unit fetches S$8.7 million

THE Singapore retail strata market seems to be buzzing more. Recent deals include the S$64 million sale of Sceneca Square mall being built next to Tanah Merah MRT station, and the S$8.7 million sale of a retail unit at The 101 in Beach Road owned by convicted money launderer Su Haijin.

The single-storey Sceneca Square is being bought by 8M Real Estate, a Singapore property investment group owned by Hong Kong-based Crane Capital, a unit of US pension fund Washington State Investment Board.

Set up in 2014, 8M Real Estate is a major owner of conservation shophouses in Singapore.

Sceneca Square will have about 2,000 square metres or 21,528 square feet of gross floor area of retail space. The transaction includes the open plaza space in front of the mall.

Sceneca Square is part of a mixed-use project being developed by a joint venture involving MCC Singapore, Ekovest Development (S), and Singapore Exchange-listed The Place Holdings.

The project, which is being built on a site with 99-year leasehold tenure from February 2021, also includes the 268-unit Sceneca Residence, for which sales began in early 2023.

The project is being developed on a site acquired for nearly S$249 million or S$930 per square foot per plot ratio at a state tender that closed in October 2020.

MCC Singapore is part of Fortune Global 500 company Metallurgical Corporation of China, which is listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai. In addition to property development, MCC Singapore is also involved in construction, and offers urban planning and design services.

Meanwhile, at the corner of Beach Road and Liang Seah Street, the first-storey retail unit leased to Chef China has been sold by Aiqinhai Investment, which is fully owned by Su and is under receivership. The price works out to S$5,657 psf on the strata area. The 101 has 999-year leasehold tenure.

A search on the Handshakes portal showed that DBS lodged four charges against Aiqinhai Investment in 2021. A receiver is appointed to take possession of and sell or liquidate assets in order to repay a company’s outstanding debt.

The unit is being bought by a company owned by a Lim family that is also involved in the jewellery and pawn-brokerage businesses.

Knight Frank is understood to have handled the sale of the unit via a tender.