Fragrance Group buys Katong Plaza for $180 mil with potential redevelopment into a new hotel
Katong Plaza is a freehold commercial and residential mixed-use project located at 1 Brooke Road. It has 132 strata retail units and 14 household houses. Proprietors of the retail units will be getting profits extending from $502,000 to over $6 million, whilst household owners will be obtaining between $2 million and $5.1 million, mentions Terence Lian, Huttons Asia’s head of financial investment sales that brokered the arrangement.
Fragrance Group and its accommodation arm, Global Premium Hotels, are managed by billionaire real property real estate investor and hotelier James Koh, the chairman of both business. Global Premium Hotels has a collection of brands, featuring the homegrown Fragrance and Parc Sovereign. In 2019, Fragrance and international hotel group Accor tied up to open 13 new ibis Budget hotels, that were in the past Fragrance-branded resorts, along with bringing in the ibis Styles and Mercure brands.
“Our team believe this purchase will improve confidence in the cumulative sale industry as builders continue to pursue appealing land parcels,” says Lian.
Real estate developer Fragrance Group has recently acquired Katong Plaza in Marine Parade for $180 million. The transaction price equates to a land rate of $1,809 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr), consisting of the land betterment fee.
Last month, Fragrance Team and Global Premium Hotels signed an additional contract with Accor to open 2 new-build properties with 3 brand-new lodgings by 2027. They are the 808-key Mövenpick Singapore on Hoe Chiang Street, that will be the largest Mövenpick hotel in the Asia Pacific location. It will certainly also house Mövenpick Living Singapore, a 37-key lodging intended at travellers seeking prolonged stays.
Katong Plaza is beside Roxy Square and the Grand Mercure Roxy Singapore. Other accommodations close consist of Holiday Inn Express Singapore Katong, an IHG Hotel and Village Hotel Katong.
Fragrance Group might possibly redevelop Katong Square into a brand-new hotel within among one of the Accor labels. After all, Katong Plaza is located in prime District 15 in the east and only 120m from the Marine Parade MRT Station on the Thomson-East Coast Line and the Parkway Parade mall.
The existing development spans a complete land area of 34,044 sq ft with a total plot ratio of 3.0. This works out to a maximum gross flooring space of 102,132 sq ft.
The various other real estate, based at Waterloo Road, will be a new 502-room lodging under the Handwritten Collection brand of Accor. It is a redevelopment of the former Min Yuan Apartments which Fragrance Team acquired en bloc for $141 million in September 2019; and the former Waterloo Apartments, which it acquired in November 2018 for $131.1 million. Both 999-year leasehold sites were integrated, and URA authorization was acquired for redevelopment right into a 500-room resort.
It is presently zoned for business and residential usage but has actually gotten URA authorization for resort use. Lian estimates that the brand-new hotel might generate around 300 and 340 rooms.
