DB2 offers final eight ground-floor strata retail units at Plus for sale from $3.8 mil
Following its recent redevelopment, the strata-titled commercial building, now known as Plus, offers a unique blend of modern office space and premium retail units. The property, situated at 20 Cecil Street, boasts a prime location in the heart of Singapore’s Central Business District.
At the junction of Cecil Street and Church Street, a two-storey retail podium leads up to a 28-storey office tower of blue glass. The office tower, which has a 99-year lease from 1989, features 259 office units on levels 3 to 28, while the retail podium houses 21 strata retail units on the first two levels.
Plus, a private fund of CapitaLand, has taken a major stake in the building after acquiring the office tower for over $500 million in September 2019. In October 2020, selected single strata office units began to be released for sale.
According to caveats lodged with URA Realis, the most recent sale of two adjacent units on the ninth floor fetched $7.2 million ($3,126 psf) in December. Prices for strata office units at Plus have ranged from $2,886 psf for two adjacent units on the fourth floor to $3,451 psf for a unit on the 27th floor.
While the strata office units have been made available for sale, the retail units on the first two levels of Plus have been held by developer and investor DB2 since 2014. DB2 only began to release the retail units on the second floor for sale last September, and all 13 units have since been taken up.
DB2 is now offering the final eight units on the first level for sale by private treaty, with CBRE as the sole marketing agent. These street-facing units, ranging from 388 to 807 sq ft, have indicative prices from $3.8 million ($9,794 psf) to $7.75 million ($9,603 psf).
Property experts estimate that these premium retail units will attract investors such as boutique real estate funds, family offices, local companies, and high-net-worth individuals. All the units are currently leased to a range of F&B and essential services outlets, and all will be sold with their existing tenancies.
The building’s prime location within the Downtown Core puts it a short walk away from the Raffles Place MRT Interchange Station (for the North-South and East-West Lines) and the Telok Ayer MRT Station (on the Downtown Line). With a working population of up to 284,000 in the Downtown Core, there is a constant and firm demand for retail offerings in the CBD.
Experience in the strata commercial market has been increased following the government’s most recent round of cooling measures in April 2023, driving up interest and demand for commercial properties. This makes commercial properties an attractive option for investors looking to preserve their wealth.
The supply of these strata retail units will be limited due to URA restrictions on new strata subdivisions of commercial developments in designated Central areas. Other buildings, such as Singapore Land Group’s Clifford Centre and IOI Properties’ Shenton House, are also set for redevelopment, further reducing the supply of strata commercial units.
The collaboration between TE Capital Partners and LaSalle Investment Management saw all 15 strata office floors and two strata retail units on the first level of Solitaire at Cecil sold within five months of its launch in January 2023. The sold-off office floors ranged from $3,865 to $4,325 psf, while one of the retail units was sold for $5,397 psf, and the other for around $6,000 psf.
Some local and foreign investors have switched to the strata commercial segment following the government’s latest round of cooling measures, creating a surge in interest and demand for commercial properties. CBRE’s executive director of capital markets, Clemence Lee, points to the recent divestment exercise by Singapore-listed City Developments, which released the remaining strata units at The Venue Shoppes, Sunshine Plaza, Fortune Centre, Cititech Industrial and Citilink Warehouse, attracting mainly local investors.
Shaun Poh, executive director of capital markets at Cushman & Wakefield, adds that CBD shophouses and strata commercial units will continue to be popular with local and foreign investors. This has seen prime freehold and 999-year shophouses in the CBD transacted at prices of $5,000 and $8,000 psf.
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Plus has changed hands three times in the past decade and now has a new joint owner, Fullshare Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed property investment and development company controlled by mainland Chinese billionaire Ji Changqun. Keppel Land developed the building in 1992, and sold it off to Plaza Ventures in 2014 for $550 million. DB2 then acquired the building’s 21 strata retail units in 2017 for $75.7 million ($6,175 psf). DB2 is now offering the final eight units on the first level for sale, making this an excellent opportunity to invest in a Class A commercial building in the heart of Singapore’s CBD.