ST : Chow House, 8 others up for tender

May 26, 2010

Chow House, 8 others up for tender

Sale marks end of court feud between 3 brothers over firms which own the properties

By Jessica Cheam

NINE properties, including Chow House in Robinson Road, have been put up for public tender following the conclusion of a bitter family dispute.

Chow House is a freehold six-storey office building in the heart of the Central Business District.

DTZ, which is organising the sale, described it as the 'jewel in the crown' of the sale portfolio as it had not been built to its maximum potential.

The range of commercial blocks and residential shophouses - valued at around $100 million back in 2008 - is being marketed for Deloitte liquidator Tam Chee Chong.

The tender marks the end of a High Court battle between three feuding brothers behind three companies - Associated Development, Chow Cho Poon Limited and Lee Tung Company - which own the properties.

The siblings - two doctors and an architect in their 60s and all living in Hong Kong - are the sons of property investor Chow Cho Poon, who died in 1997.

Their father had set up three companies to hold his assets.

The firms lease out commercial space in the properties.

Eldest son Chow Kwok Chi had asked the High Court in 2007 to wind up the companies so that the brothers could make a clean break from one another.

He argued that as long as the companies exist, their father's estate would remain unadministered because of an unpaid $34 million debt.

DTZ's senior director for investment advisory service, Mr Shaun Poh, said that Chow House - with a total site area of 9,084 sq ft - has a potential commercial gross floor area of 101,749 sq ft.

An outline permission has also been granted for a residential development with commercial use on the first floor, he added.

The tender for Chow House closes on July 15.

The other properties include three restored pre-war conservation shophouses in Lorong Telok, which are being sold as one property.

They have a total site area of about 4,432 sq ft and a lease of 999 years with effect from 1831.

Other commercial shophouses up for tender are in North Canal Road and Jalan Besar.

There is also a row of six adjoining single-storey shophouses in Upper Serangoon Road with a total area of about 9,166 sq ft, being sold as one entity.

Another property comprising seven adjoining units of two-storey freehold shophouses in Lavender Street, with a site area of about 13,107 sq ft and marked for residential development with commercial use on the first floors, are also on offer.

Tenders close from July 7 to July 15, depending on the property.

DTZ said that as part of the liquidation process, sale proceeds will be distributed among the shareholders of the companies.

jcheam@sph.com.sg