INCITY Lofts, an eight-storey block of small office, home office (Soho) units at Beach Road

INCITY Lofts, an eight-storey block of small office, home office (Soho) units at Beach Road completed about three years ago, is being offered for sale at a minimum price of $70 million or $1,149 per square foot (psf) of strata area.

The land lease tenure of the site has been extended to a full 99-year term starting April 2004, after the building was completed.

InCity Lofts, at 700 Beach Road, is being sold by its developer, In-Space Pte Ltd, whose shareholders are said to include Wee Chwee Heng of Kumpulan Akitek.

InCity Lofts comprises a ground-floor retail unit as well as 54 Soho units - ranging from studio units to maisonette penthouses - spread across the second to eighth levels of the building, which has a roof-top pool. There are also 24 surface and covered carpark lots on the ground level of the development.

‘The majority of the units in the development are leased; and leases are mostly short-term, hence the new investor can reposition or re-let the building and ride on the strong office rental market,’ said Cushman & Wakefield managing director Donald Han, whose firm is marketing the InCity Lofts en bloc sale through an expression of interest exercise that closes on Sept 28.

Nearby commercial buildings like The Concourse are operating near full occupancy with asking rents for office units in the region of $10 psf a month, Mr Han said.

Assuming InCity Lofts units are rented out conservatively at $6 psf a month and based on a minimum price of $70 million, the net yield for an investor works out to over 5 per cent a year, he added.

‘This is a top-end yield play for investors looking for an aggressive rental with capital appreciation growth,’ Mr Han said.

InCity Lofts has a land area of 18,401 sq ft and a fully built up plot ratio (ratio of maximum potential gross floor area to land area) of 4.15.

Source : Business Times - 05 Sep 2007