Family of Kopitiam King buys Lornie Road GCB for S$26.8m

Kalpana Rashiwala

Published Thu, Oct 14, 2021 · 09:50 PM

Singapore

THE family of Lim Bee Huat of Kopitiam King fame is buying a fairly new bungalow along Lornie Road for S$26.8 million.

The price of S$2,545 per square foot, albeit on a relatively small freehold land area of 10,529 sq ft, is seen as being on the high side for the Caldecott Hill Estate Good Class Bungalow (GCB) Area.

"This is even after adjusting for the fact that the house is quite new. Moreover, the property is quite near the road/highway," said a property investor.

"Working backwards, the land price would be about S$1,600 psf," he added.

In comparison, Secretlab co-founder Ian Ang paid S$1,537 psf (amounting to S$36 million) for a bungalow in Olive Road, within the same GCB Area, in June this year. He plans to tear down the existing bungalow and redevelop the 23,424 sq ft plot into a new house, based on earlier media reports.

However, putting things in perspective, the investor pointed to a key attraction of the Lornie Road bungalow that is being bought by Lim's daughter, who is in her 20s: it is a completed property and nicely decked out.

Standing on a slightly elevated site, the bungalow is a reconstruction that retained a small part of an existing structure, based on an earlier story.

The bungalow is being sold by a pair of siblings. Realstar Premier, which acted for them, told The Business Times that the bungalow received a Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) in 2017 with a further TOP issued in 2019 following the completion of additional works.

The property has 2 storeys as well as a basement and 2 attics (one was part of the earlier property while the other was newly built).

The basement includes a theatre room, wine cellar and powder room. All 4 bedrooms on the second level are ensuite and with their own walk-in wardrobes. The home has dry and wet kitchens, 2 dining areas, an entertainment room and a water feature - though there is no swimming pool. The built-in area is about 16,500 sq ft.

"The high psf also reflects the 'bite-sized' absolute price," said the investor.

Lim Bee Huat, the buyer's father, began working as a part-time kopi kia (coffee boy) when he was just 9 years old and went on to build the Kopitiam empire. In 2018, NTUC Enterprise announced that it is buying all of Kopitiam Investment and its subsidiaries - spanning 80 outlets comprising 56 food courts, 21 coffee shops and 3 hawker centres, as well as 2 central kitchens. These included the Lau Pa Sat Festival Market in the Central Business District which Kopitiam acquired in 1995.

According to a search on the Handshakes portal, Kopitiam Investment is now owned by Fairprice Group Food Services.

Bungalows in the 39 gazetted GCB Areas have to comply with stringent planning conditions stipulated by the Urban Redevelopment Authority to preserve their exclusivity and low-rise character. Among other things, a minimum plot size of 1,400 square metres (about 15,070 sq ft) is stipulated as the planning norm for newly-created bungalows in GCB areas.

One generally has to be a Singapore citizen to be allowed to acquire a landed property in a GCB Area.

List Sotheby's International Realty's analysis of URA Realis caveats data downloaded on Oct 14 shows 75 transactions in GCB Areas totalling S$2.16 billion year to date (with the latest deal, the Lornie Road transaction, dated Sept 30).

The whole of 2020 saw 46 deals amounting to S$1.09 billion.

What is a GCB? See video bt.sg/gcb

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Singapore property Good class bungalow

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