A mixed-use development that includes Bukit Timah Plaza and Sherwood Towers is designed for both business and residence

Since the Reserve Residences sales gallery at Jalan Anak Bukit opened to the public for a preview on May 13th and the adjacent Bukit Timah Plaza shopping mall has witnessed an increase in foot traffic as property agent and customers visiting the mall prior to or after visiting the sales gallery.

Based on the new enthusiasm for Bukit Timah and the Jalan Anak Bukit and Bukit Timah neighbourhoods in anticipation of the announcement of The Reserve Residences, Sammi Lim who is the co-founder and director at Brilliance Capital, has kicked off the auction of the strata-titled carpark located at Bukit Timah Plaza with an the expression of interest (EOI).

The Myst Upper Bukit Timah floor plan has a plot ratio of 2.1, is zoned residential, and is set to offer 1, 2, 3, and 4-bedroom units.

Bukit Timah Plaza is a mixed-use residential and commercial development that was completed in 1980. It includes a 269-unit apartment block, Sherwood Towers. The mixed-use development comes with a 99-year lease that dates back to 1976, which translates to an remaining lease of 52 years.

The carpark in Bukit Timah Plaza is spread across several levels: The basement level 2 and 3 as well as the whole floorplate of 3rd floor. It includes 427 car parking and 14 motorcycle spaces and is accessible to both the shopping mall as well as Sherwood Towers.

The total strata area of the parking lot is 152,772 square feet, or equivalent to around 22% from the overall strata area of the development. This means that the owner of the carpark has a major voice in the event of an eventual sale of the collective. Regarding share value the carpark is the 178th percentile (4%) of the 444 shares that are part of the development.

Near the close of the year at the end of last year, the homeowners in Bukit Timah Plaza as well as Sherwood Towers embarked on a collective selling process. The committee for collective sales has not yet secured the required 80% agreement to move forward.

The owner of the parking lot the carpark is Keppel Land, which developed the residential and commercial development in the joint venture. Keppel Land is the urban development part that is part of Keppel Corp.

According Brilliance Capital’s Lim who is the sole marketer for this carpark there’s “a very limited number of strata-titled parking spaces available for purchase”. The potential buyers are primarily existing carpark operators looking to increase their number of carparks. Additionally, some investors see carparks as an alternative source of income that is stable. The purchaser could manage the parking as a lease to an operator.

Lim believes there’s a possibility of unlocking value through using a portion of the carpark space for other possibilities, such as self-storage pick-up and go facilities as well as community spaces, sporting facilities, and even capsule hotels subject to the approval of authorities.

The principal tenant at Bukit Timah is NTUC FairPrice Finest, which has more than 40,000 sq feet and is open 24 hours. It also houses a variety of well-known F&B stores, retail stores as well as medical and educational centers as well as two bank halls (DBS as well as Maybank). There’s a higher chance of earning by having a supermarket that is open 24 hours a day on the premises, according to Lim. The store could rent the space to store its carts. The new owner could earn money through advertising panels that are placed that are placed on the walls of the car park.

Bukit Timah Plaza and Sherwood Towers are situated at the end of an isle site with a prominent frontage on Jalan Anak Bukit, Upper Bukit Timah Road and Dunearn Road. Accessible via Pan Island Expressway and Bukit Timah Expressway. It is close to Beauty World MRT Station and King Albert Park MRT Station on the Downtown Line.

The mixed-use project is likely be a beneficiary of the revitalization of its neighborhood. Its neighbor, the Reserve Residences next door is an exciting, mixed-use project that is integrated with a transport infrastructure hub, which includes the Beauty World MRT Station underground, as well as a brand new air-conditioned bus interchange located on the second floor of a brand new shopping mall. The project will also include seventy-two residential units and 160 serviced apartments.

Nearby are two more new developments: The 120-unit The Linq @ Beauty World and Bukit Sembawang’s planned 160-unit condo building at Bukit Timah Link.

Also available is the six-storey strata-titled parking lot located at Textile Centre located at Jalan Sultan, off North Bridge Road. The asking price is $36 million and JLL is the seller. It also comprises a separate piece of commercial land that could eventually become it’s driveway to the park. The carpark, which covers 200,456 square feet extends from the third to seventh levels of the Textile Centre and comprises 685 parking spaces as well as 40 pots for motorcycles. The asking price is $52,555 for each parking space.

The carpark makes up thirty% percent of total area of strata in the development, and 1.02% of its share worth. Textile Centre is an 25-storey mixed-use development. It features a seven-storey retail podium that houses 150 retail units and 6 floors of office space that have an average of 63 units and 12 residential floors that have the 132 apartments. The parking lot is offered for sale via EOI.

Many carparks in strata-titled were sold between 2021 and 2020: In the Holland Road Shopping Centre, 47 parking spaces with an 999-year lease were bought to the public for $17.33 millions ($368,723 for each space) In Bukit Timah, there were 381 parking spaces were leased on 99-year lease cost $16.2 million ($42,520 per space) in the Parklane Shopping Centre, 219 spaces under a 99-year lease cost $17.1 million ($70,000 per space) as well as at the People’s Park Complex, 648 parking spaces with 99-year leases for $39.33 millions ($54,000 in space).

Lim was the broker for sales of the previously listed carparks, excluding the one in the Bukit Timah’s Shopping Center. “In Singapore, carparks are considered to be a great investment, owing to the fact that parking spaces are limited particularly in areas of large popularity,” she says.

In the last couple of years Lim was able to see the market for buyers expand to include both local and international corporations, private funds family offices, and ultra-high net-worth individuals.

The EOI for the Bukit Timah Plaza carpark is set to expire the 7th of July.