Orchard Towers Fail To Muster Enough Support For En Bloc Sale
SINGAPORE – Orchard Towers’ collective sale committee (CSC) had failed to obtain the necessary approval from at least 80 percent of the strata unit owners at the mixed-use commercial property to proceed with the en bloc sale, reported The Business Times on Monday evening (20 February, SGT).
This was revealed by the real estate developer Hiap Hoe – whose subsidiary Golden Bay Realty owns 21 shops and 38 office units at Orchard Towers – in a Singapore Exchange (SGX) filing on Monday.
“The collective sale committee of Orchard Towers did not obtain the required threshold for the collective sale and therefore the collective sale process will not proceed,” stated Hiap Hoe in the filing.
In February 2022, it was reported that the committee had suggested setting the reserve price at S$1.6 billion. If the collective sale process proceeded and a buyer had accepted the asking price, it could have been Singapore’s most expensive en bloc sale in history.
Market observers commented that Orchard Towers’ failed en bloc sale attempt highlights the deal making problems involving a large mixed-use strata commercial project, where it’s hard to get valuation and pricing that is acceptable to owners of different unit types.
Orchard Towers consists of 2 buildings. The front tower houses retail and office units, while the rear 25-storey tower along Claymore contains 58 private residential units and some commercial units. The development also has 361 car park lots.
The freehold commercial property was built in the early 1970s. It stands on a land plot measuring around 65,983 sq ft that has a plot ratio of 4.9.
The proposed en bloc sale gained traction last July after the police announced that Public Entertainment Licences for bars & nightclubs operating within Orchard Towers shall not be renewed after May 2023. Notably, the commercial development has a sleazy reputation.
