AXA said to be seller of GB Building's top floors

Indicative price of $30.18m works out to $1,400 psf

INSURER AXA is said to be the owner of the top four floors of GB Building at 143 Cecil Street that have been put on the market with an indicative price of $30.18 million. This works out to about $1,400 per square foot based on the strata area of 21,560 square feet.

The building is on a site with 99-year leasehold tenure starting from 1982, says CB Richard Ellis, which is marketing the space through a private treaty sale.

The space for sale comprises four strata titled units - one per floor - on the 23rd to 26th storeys. The new buyer will be entitled to use at least 16 of the buildings's total 105 carpark lots.

The four units for sale have strata areas ranging from 5,210 sq ft to 5,500 sq ft.

The 26-storey GB Building, comprising a three-storey podium with a 23-storey office tower, is about 24 years old. City Developments is said to own about 58 per cent of the building.

CBRE executive director for investment properties Jeremy Lake said: 'At present, investors and owner occupiers are finding it increasingly difficult to acquire substantial floors of strata offices in a well located and well designed office building in the Central Business District.

'Office rentals are experiencing steady growth. Strong economic fundamentals support the current buoyant property market and have attracted more and more overseas corporate investors to Singapore. Such an investment opportunity is rare and we expect this property to receive keen interest from both local and overseas investors.'

Strata office units at International Plaza, which is built on a site with 99-year leasehold tenure starting June 1970, have changed hands at between $1,220 psf and $1,475 psf this year. Suntec City, which is on a site with 99 years tenure with effect from March 1989, has seen office transactions at $1,800-2,300 psf so far this year.

AXA, which currently occupies the four floors at GB Building that it has put on the market, is expected to lease back the space on a short-term basis until it finalises its relocation plans to new premises.

The relocation plan is to accommodate an increase in headcount and the insurer is understood to prefer leasing rather than owning premises.

Source: Business Times, 13 Jul 2010