APOLLO Centre in Chinatown is being put on the market

APOLLO Centre in Chinatown is being put on the market, but tenants need not worry that the 14-year-old office building will be torn down.

Owner Apollo Enterprises yesterday appointed Knight Frank to sell the seven-storey building.

Knight Frank said it expects interest from institutional investors to be keen, but that the 99-year leasehold complex is unlikely to be redeveloped.

‘We have spoken to several private equity funds and expect a good level of interest due to the lack of good quality office space at the moment,’ it added.

While Knight Frank said it was unable to confirm an indicative price, property consultants expect Apollo Centre to fetch prices well above $200 million.

Mr Donald Han, managing director of Cushman & Wakefield, believes the building can fetch about $1,200 to $1,300 per sq ft (psf) of net lettable area.

This works out to about $220 million, assuming that the net lettable area is about 85 per cent of the building’s total gross floor area of 217,528 sq ft, he said.

He also noted that the last done transaction was at Chinatown Point, where almost a whole floor was recently sold for about $1,250 psf of net lettable area.

At this price level, Apollo Centre ’should be able to get a fairly good response from the market, and from local players looking for corporate offices’, said Mr Han.

Apollo Centre sits on a 54,560 sq ft plot with a 99-year lease that commenced in May 1983.

It is selling with tenancy, said Knight Frank, which added that the current occupancy rate is ‘very healthy’.

Asking rentals at Apollo Centre are believed to be about $7.50 psf per month.

Source : Straits Times - 17 Aug 2007