OK Lim's Second Avenue bungalow on sale by public tender

A THREE-STOREY Good Class Bungalow (GCB) belonging to Hin Leong founder Lim Oon Kuin, better known as OK Lim, is for sale along with another GCB at Caldecott Hill Estate, according to a press release issued by marketing agent Knight Frank on Monday.

These properties are for purchase by public tender and by expression of interest (EOI), respectively, with their deadlines being Sept 30 and two weeks from Oct 5.

The GCB at 5 Second Avenue in Bukit Timah sits on 19,984 square feet (sq ft) of land with a gross floor area of about 10,000 sq ft. Knight Frank in its release said the property comes with a well-manicured garden, swimming pool, large car porch and a squash court in the basement.

Mary Sai, Knight Frank Singapore's executive director of capital markets for land & building, collective & strata sales, said that the Bukit Timah GCB had "generated a good level of interest" when it was offered for sale by private treaty last year, as "many homeowners were looking to own one in the coveted District 10".

A valuation is currently being conducted to establish the fair open market value of the property, said Knight Frank, which also noted that several tech chief executives have bought similar assets in recent months with price tags in the range of S$30 million to S$86 million.

The agent further highlighted the S$30 million sale of a GCB at Second Avenue in July this year, which reflects a per-square-foot (psf) price of S$2,045 based on its land area of 14,667 sq ft. Another GCB at Third Avenue nearby sold in the same month to Razer's chief executive Tan Min Liang for S$52.8 million or S$1,706 per psf, it noted.

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The Bukit Timah GCB is one of several properties in Singapore under a US$3.5 billion court-ordered asset freeze of the Lim family's assets worldwide.

News of the bungalow's sale by tender comes more than a year after The Business Times (BT) reported that an attempted divestment of the same property had fallen through. EdgeProp had previously disclosed that a caveat of S$27 million was lodged for the bungalow on April 14, 2020, shortly before Hin Leong Trading applied for a debt moratorium.

The other GCB for sale by EOI was described by Knight Frank as a "resort-like two-storey bungalow set in the tranquil surroundings of Caldecott Hill Estate". With a land area of 29,483 sq ft and its close proximity to the Caldecott MRT station, it will attract buyers looking to own the perfect family home, said the marketing agent.

"Interest in this prestigious asset class in Singapore (GCBs) is still going strong with the rebound of economic activities and the easing of restrictive safety measures as our nation reached vaccination rate of 80 per cent," commented Ms Sai.

READ MORE: 

• OK Lim's daughter hauled to court for allegedly telling staff to ensure deleted data cannot be recovered
• Singapore's former oil tycoon OK Lim slapped with 100 more forgery charges
• High Court caps OK Lim's spending at S$10,000 a week
• Hin Leong's court-appointed managers seek to freeze Lim's assets