Singapore’s NTUC Marketing Office Building for $118M as Divestments Continue 

Singapore’s Income Insurance has put the Prinsep House commercial block in Dhoby Ghaut up for sale at an asking price of S$157 million ($118.3 million), marking the latest in a string of asset disposals by the NTUC Enterprise group of social enterprises.

The insurer, formerly called NTUC Income, appointed CBRE to market the 11-storey building at 30 Prinsep Street, with the guide price translating to S$2,332 per square foot of its 67,335 square foot (6,257 square metre) gross floor area, according to an announcement on Wednesday.

CBRE points to the asset’s location near three MRT stations, as well as its 999-year leasehold, as selling points. Michael Tay, capital markets for Singapore at the property agency, touted the building’s modest scale as making it accessible to family offices, high-net-worth individuals, corporates and boutique real estate funds which tend to prefer freehold or 999-year leasehold assets.

The promotional campaign for Prinsep House was launched just a few weeks after Income Insurance’s parent organisation, NTUC Enterprise, agreed to sell an 18-asset community retail portfolio to two Singapore-based real estate firms for a total of S$255 million ($192 million).

Neighbourhood on the Rise

Known as NTUC Income at Prinsep House, the 1992-vintage building sits on a 15,000 square foot site which hosts co-working provider WeWork across six floors and is located within a short walk of Bencoolen, Bras Basah and Dhoby Ghaut MRT stations.

Having been extensively refurbished in 2013, the building has space for F&B and retail shops on the ground floor, as well as 52 parking spots from levels two to five.

Tay expects rents and capital values of commercial properties within the Dhoby Ghaut and Bras Basah precinct to appreciate thanks to ongoing gentrification in the area. Major rejuvenation projects nearby include the newly renovated Lazada One along Bras Basah Road and the planned redevelopment of the Peace Centre and Peace Mansion at 1 Sophia Road, both of which are less than 10 minutes’ walk from Prinsep House.

The expression of interest exercise will close on 7 February.

Community Shopping Hubs Sold

The marketing effort for Prinsep House comes after NTUC Enterprise last month inked two separate agreements to sell three sets of community shopping centres anchored by NTUC FairPrice supermarkets, according to industry sources who confirmed news first reported by the Business Times.

The first batch, comprising nine properties of about 53,627 square feet in gross floor area, was sold to local private developer JBE Holdings for about S$80 million, or 5 percent below the S$84.5 million guide price set in a marketing exercise in September.

NTUC Enterprise agreed in December to sell the remaining nine retail assets to  Singapore-based Evia Real Estate for S$175 million, which was 2.8 percent below the S$180 million initial asking price.

The assets are grouped into a second cluster containing six shopping hubs of about 52,529 square feet, while the other three properties are clumped in the third batch measuring 68,250 square feet. The shopping centres add to Evia’s existing portfolio, which focuses on residential, office and industrial assets across Singapore and South Korea.

All 18 shopping hubs are fully occupied and are scattered across Housing Development Board (HDB) public housing estates, including Jurong, Clementi, Buona Vista, and Choa Chu Kang in the western region, as well as along Holland Drive and in Bukit Merah in Central Singapore.

Once both deals are completed, NTUC Enterprise will be left with 12 supermarkets in its portfolio with a combined strata floor area of 185,000 square feet.

CBRE was also the marketing agent for the retail portfolio, but had not yet issued a statement regarding the sale at the time of publication.

Income Insurance and NTUC FairPrice are among the nine divisions of NTUC Enterprise, a holding co-operative set up by Singapore’s labour organisation of trade unions, the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC).

NTUC Disposals

The retail portfolio sale adds to S$3.8 billion worth of properties that Income Insurance and its former property investment manager, Mercatus, have disposed of since NTUC Enterprise began selling down its real estate portfolio two years ago.

Mercatus divested its half-stake in the NEX mall in Serangoon district to Frasers Property and Frasers Centrepoint Trust for S$652.5 million in January 2023, shortly after selling Jurong Point and Swing By @ Thomson Plaza to Link REIT in December 2022.

In July 2022, Income Insurance sold the 16 Collyer Quay office tower in Raffles Place to Bright Ruby Resources for S$1 billion.

CBRE Investment Management took over managing the insurer’s remaining real estate portfolio from Mercatus a year ago.