Singapore Luxury Home Site Sold for $46M With Proceeds Going to Charity

The family of Singaporean singer-songwriter Dick Lee has sold a set of three stand-alone homes on the city-state’s upscale Chancery Hill Road to local homebuilder Sustained Land, which is expected to develop new landed homes on the site.

Sustained Land, which is controlled by low-profile tycoon Douglas Ong and was among the developers of the Coastline Residences and One Meyer projects in the East Coast, has agreed to pay S$61.08 million ($46 million) to purchase the three freehold bungalows at 10A and 12 Chancery Hill Road and 14A Dyson Road from the estate of late local philanthropist, Agnes Tan, which plans to donate the proceeds to charity.

“We received an overwhelming response – close to 100 enquiries since we launched the tender. It was a rare opportunity to own a sizable freehold bungalow, and the prestigious location of Chancery Hill, made it more attractive,” Shaun Poh, capital markets executive director at Cushman & Wakefield and sole adviser on the deal, said in a statement on Friday.

The trio of homes occupy a prime 32,148 square foot (2,987 square metre) plot in District 11, with prices of private landed homes in Singapore having risen 3.1 percent in February from the same month last year, according to an index published by property agency SRX, as an influx of wealthy individuals continues to drive demand for luxury housing.

New Novena Homes Soon

Sustained Land is paying about S$1,900 per square foot of site area for the project, with the plot in the Novena area designated for development of stand-alone luxury homes of up to two stories in height. The price tag represents a nearly 2 percent premium over the seller’s asking price of S$1,866 per square foot.

Sustained Land’s Ong did not comment on his plans for the project, which is situated less than 10 minutes’ drive from the Orchard Road shopping belt and is close to some of the oldest educational institutions in Singapore including the Anglo-Chinese School on Barker Road and St Joseph’s Institution on Malcolm Road.

Free-standing homes in the Mount Rosie Signature Collection luxury development, which hit the market last year one kilometre (0.62 miles) west of the Chancery HIll site, are currently for sale at an asking price of S$1,672 per square foot of built area. That project was also developed on a former bungalow site.

Arts and Culture Philanthropy

The tender for the Chancery Hill sites, which drew at least 10 bids throughout the five-week marketing period, was arranged by executors Peter Lee and John Lee, who are nephews of the late philanthropist and brothers of Singaporean singer-songwriter Dick Lee.

“Our aunt Agnes was always an active and visionary philanthropist and we think this is a fitting outcome for someone who had not only been extremely generous in her lifetime, but who had bequeathed everything she owned towards charitable causes,” Peter Lee said in a statement, noting that the donations will be made in memory of Tan’s father Tun Tan Cheng Lock, who was a prominent public figure in Malaysia and Singapore.

The family, which descends from a Malacca Peranakan clan which includes Agnes Tan’s late father, Tan Cheng Lock, who was a businessman and early advocate of Malayan independence, is known for donating funds and artefacts to Singapore institutions especially those related to the Peranakan culture of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Agnes Tan, who passed away in September 2021 at the age of 101, was a founding donor in restoring the Baba House museum of the National University of Singapore. She was also recognized for her financial support of the National Heritage Board as well as the artefacts and artworks she contributed to the NUS Museum’s Straits Chinese Collection.

Luxury Condo Specialist

The Chancery Hill acquisition replenishes the landbank of Sustained Land after the company founded by low-profile property investor Douglas Ong completed its 144-unit Coastline Residences condo project on Amber Road in the East Coast area last year.

South of Tanjong Pagar, the developer is also part of a consortium developing the 36-storey Sky Everton condo on Everton Road, which offers 262 high-end apartments next to Spottiswoode Park.

With a unit in Sky Everton having sold for S$3,406 per square foot in July 2022, the consortium, which also includes Ho Lee Group, Kwong Lee Land and Penjuru Capital, expects to finish construction on the project this year.

New projects in Singapore are selling out fast this year driven by pent-up demand following a dearth of new launches in 2022.

Data from the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority showed developers sold 432 new private homes in February, up 10 percent from the month prior after the Terra Hill condo complex – developed by Hoi Hup Realty and Malaysia’s Sunway Group in Pasir Panjang – saw more than a third of its 270 units snapped up during its weekend launch.