Hotel in Little India up for auction

TEKKA Hotel, comprising nine adjoining two-and-a-half-storey shophouses off Serangoon Road, will be put up for auction at an indicative price of $17 million to $19 million.

The refurbished pre-war property in Belilios Lane is on nine titles and has a 99-year leasehold tenure from March 8, 1995. It is in the Little India conservation area under the 2008 Master Plan and is zoned for commercial use.

The hotel has 50 guest rooms and six retail and restaurant spots, spread over a gross floor area of 20,397 sq ft. An assumed price of $18 million would translate to about $160,000 per room.

The shops on the ground floor are tenanted and fetch combined rent of $54,900 a month. The last tenancy expires on Sept 30, 2012.

Colliers International is auctioning the hotel on Sept 23. Its deputy managing director of agency and business services Grace Ng said that in line with Singapore's aim to attract 17 million visitors a year by 2015, demand for hotel accommodation could spill over to city-fringe areas.

Tekka Hotel is strategically located in a vibrant area with a rich cultural heritage, she said. And with more budget-conscious tourists from countries such as China, India and Vietnam, 'budget hotels will be a popular choice'.

More shophouses are also up for sale. Colliers will also auction a four-storey freehold conservation shophouse in Geylang Road. The property has a gross floor area of 21,779 sq ft and there is potential to add another floor to the building.

DTZ, meanwhile, is auctioning two shophouses on Sept 22. One is a freehold two-storey conservation shophouse at Lorong Geylang, with an indicative price of around $2.4 million. The other is a three-storey conservation shophouse in Mohamed Sultan Road, with an indicative price of around $5 million.

Some freehold landed residential properties will also feature in Colliers's auction. There is a 4,355 sq ft three-storey detached house and a 3,145 sq ft three-storey corner terrace house, both off Upper Bukit Timah Road.

There are also two semi-detached houses off Yio Chu Kang Road - a 3,960 sq ft two-storey five-bedroom unit, and a 3,850 sq ft two-storey four-bedroom unit.

Source: Business Times, 10 Sep 2009