700 Beach Road is located on Beach Road at the periphery of the Central Business District, and is adjacent to Nicoll Highway MRT station, which opened in April 2010. This successful acquisition resulted in the repositioning of an eight-storey, 52,000 square feet property from a 30%-occupied residential building to a 100%-occupied stylish office building in the midst of the global financial crisis.
BUY WELL
Acquired off-market below bank valuation
700 Beach Road was acquired off-market in April 2008. Fine Grain Property negotiated the purchase of 55 separate strata-titled units from five separate vendors in an en-bloc transaction.
Manage Well
Increased Net Lettable area by 7%, occupancy from 30% pre-acquisition to 100% and negotiated a discount on the repurchase of debt from the Bank prior to maturity
Rebrand as a high-quality boutique office building catering to the media and design industries.
Reconfigure: The existing 55 residential units were reconfigured to 11 commercial office units, thereby increasing the efficiency of the property.
Refurbish: The property underwent a cost-effective design-led refurbishment to match its new brand positioning.
Refinance: Bank facility was refinanced at a discount taking advantage of tight bank liquidity in 2009.
Leasing: 100% leased during the market crisis in 2008 to high-quality tenants, including BBC Worldwide, DIA Brands, and GroupM (WPP Group).
Sell Well
Structured exit as a hotel redevelopment
- Developed a further change of use as an exit strategy to take account of positive changes in the catchment area.
- Undertook a focused sales process to ascertain best possible price.
- Sold to a well capitalised local Singapore developer who acquired the site for hotel redevelopment, and requested Fine Grain Property to collaborate on the redevelopment of the property, leveraging the firm’s hospitality development knowledge and experience.
- Negotiated an option to participate in further investment with new owner.
