Singapore’s 8M Buys Sceneca Square Mall in Tanah Merah for $49M

Singapore property investor 8M Real Estate has acquired the single-storey retail podium at the Sceneca Residence project in Tanah Merah for S$64 million ($49 million).

Shophouse specialist 8M bought the under-construction Sceneca Square next to Tanah Merah MRT station in eastern Singapore as part of an expanded investment strategy to include larger assets, the company said in a release.

The Tanah Merah-Bedok area is poised to benefit from development plans including new residences in Bayshore and a new town to replace Paya Lebar Air Base, according to 8M, which was taken over last year by Hong Kong-based Crane Capital.

“As such, Sceneca Square’s retail concept will address the well-mixed residents of this rapidly redeveloping region with new-to-market, everyday-necessity retailers and services, as well as self-contained shop-dine-lifestyle options,” said Darren Sabom, managing director for investment management at 8M Real Estate. “We will unveil plans for the mall at an appropriate time.”

Up From Shophouses

Sceneca Square forms part of a complex that includes the 268-unit Sceneca Residence, a project led by MCC Land, a unit of state-owned Metallurgy Corporation of China.

The retail section spans 21,528 square feet (2,000 square metres) of gross floor area and will feature a 10,000 square foot supermarket and a selection of retail shops and restaurants, according to a fact sheet.

8M’s buy price for Sceneca Square translates to S$2,973 ($2,278) per square foot of GFA. Locally based Sakal Real Estate Partners brokered the transaction.

MCC acquired the development site in November 2020 for S$248.99 million and launched Sceneca Residence in January 2023, with the project selling 157 units in the first month at a median price of S$2,083 per square foot.

8M’s shophouse portfolio has more than S$1.3 billion in assets under management across 344,000 square feet. Crane Capital, which is controlled by the US-based Washington State Investment Board, plans to continue supporting 8M’s Singapore shophouse investments while committing capital to expand the portfolio into larger real estate assets across the city-state, Sabom said.

Commercial Market Rebound

The Sceneca Square deal follows a second-quarter rebound in Singapore’s commercial real estate market led by Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust’s sale of the Mapletree Anson office tower in Tanjong Pagar to regional private equity titan PAG for S$775 million.

The quarter’s second-largest transaction was City Developments Ltd’s S$439 million purchase of the Delfi Orchard tower, while ranking third was Mapletree Investments’ sale of 20 Harbour Drive, a commercial complex in western Singapore’s Pasir Panjang area, to Keppel Education Asset Fund for S$160 million.

First-quarter volume had been driven by retail transactions including Robert Kuok’s Allgreen Properties buying the Seletar Mall in the Fernvale area for S$550 million.