ST : Singapore Technologies Building up for sale

Oct 7, 2010

Singapore Technologies Building up for sale

SINGAPORE Technologies Building in Tanjong Pagar has been put up for sale amid an improving office market.

The freehold 13-storey office building with ground-floor showroom space is located at the corner of Cantonment and Lim Teck Kim roads.

Marketing agent Jones Lang LaSalle is seeking expressions of interest, with submissions due by Nov 4.

It said the asking price is about $1,500 per sq ft and up, based on the net lettable area of 98,906 sq ft. This works out to a total price of some $150 million or more.

The building, owned by Singapore Technologies Group, sits on a 19,402 sq ft site, has a gross floor area of 128,600 sq ft and 135 parking spaces.

The building is currently occupied by various office tenants, and will offer the buyer exposure to the improving CBD office rent cycle, said Jones Lang LaSalle.

The firm's national director Anthony Barr said he expects to see interest from institutional investors, developers, private buyers and owner occupiers.

'There's a lot of positive sentiment in the office market,' he said.

'Singapore's commercial real estate market is benefiting from buoyant economic activity which, in turn, is driving strong rental and capital value growth.

'The Tanjong Pagar area, in particular, is experiencing strong tenant demand.'

DTZ has said in a recent report that transactions in the rebounding office sector crossed $1 billion in the third quarter of the year, a level not breached since the second quarter of 2008.

The consultancy did not include deals for Chow House, Samsung Hub and Chevron House, as these deals are pending legal completion.

If deals for these buildings and The Corporate Office were included, office investment sales deals done so far this year would have reached about $3.56 billion, said DTZ yesterday.

JOYCE TEO