Kingsford Group Buys Tan Boon Liat Building En Bloc for S$950 Million in Year’s Biggest Deal

The S$950 million price tag is about 5% lower than the S$1 billion reserve price set when the development was launched for public tender in February 2026. The tender had closed on May 12. This is the second collective sale attempt by owners, who previously put Tan Boon Liat Building on the market for S$1.15 billion last year.

Owners’ approval for the sale will be sought at an upcoming extraordinary general meeting (EGM). Ashok Melwani, chairman of the collective sale committee, said the committee will be briefing owners at the EGM, as securing the mandate of the majority stakeholders is critical to crossing the 80% approval threshold. The deal will also be subject to approval by the Strata Titles Board.

Marketing agent Cushman & Wakefield handled the sale. The biggest collective sale on record remains Farrer Court, a privatised HUDC estate which sold for S$1.339 billion in 2007.

Tan Boon Liat Building is a 15-storey warehouse and showroom adjacent to Havelock MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line. The property occupies two separate freehold land plots zoned for Business 1 use, with a combined site area of approximately 141,048 sq ft.

URA has advised that the site be rezoned to “Residential with Commercial at 1st storey” with a plot ratio of 4.9, up from the current 3.1. The rezoning allows for a 50% uplift in total allowable gross floor area for the site. In addition, URA has advised three remnant state land plots totalling approximately 14,693 sq ft to be amalgamated with the main plot, subject to a final survey.

Given the site’s prescribed heights, the new development could potentially be twin skyscrapers of up to 48 storeys, according to Cushman & Wakefield. A maximum of 16,146 sq ft of commercial GFA can be supported at the first storey. The sale will not incur an Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty given the site’s Business 1 zoning.

Christina Sim, senior director of capital markets at Cushman & Wakefield, said URA’s decision to potentially rezone the site follows a comprehensive study spanning eight months. She noted that by transforming an aging industrial building into a compelling residential opportunity, significant value was unlocked for the stakeholders.

The acquisition comes on the heels of Kingsford Group’s launch of Lentor Gardens Residences, the 499-unit condo in the Lentor Hills estate that sold 54% of units on its July 18 launch day at an average price of S$2,350 psf.

The deal also marks the developer’s latest landbanking initiative. Last November, the group purchased a Government Land Sale site on Telok Blangah Road for S$918.4 million, or S$1,326 psf per plot ratio. The 99-year leasehold site, the first private residential plot launched on the former Keppel Club site, can yield about 745 units.