Everton Road shophouse on the block at $6.98 mil
Afreehold shophouse at 9 Everton Road will be put up for sale by its owners at Edmund Tie’s upcoming auction on July 28. Located off Neil Road in the Blair Plain Conservation Area, the two-storey shophouse sits on a 2,023 sq ft corner plot with a 7.7m street frontage. Based on a built-up area of 4,000 sq ft and guide price of $6.98 million, the shophouse is priced at $1,745 psf.
The site is zoned “residential” under the 2019 Master Plan. The shophouse features three bedrooms and a spacious family area. The property will be sold with an existing tenancy that will expire in February 2023.
The shophouse is close to the Central Business District, Tanjong Pagar, and the upcoming SGH medical campus at Singapore General Hospital, which will be the largest medical campus in Singapore. Nearby MRT stations include Outram Interchange on the East-West and North-East Lines, as well as Cantonment station on the Circle Line.
For car owners, there is a multi-storey carpark in the neighbouring Everton Park HDB development as well as street parking along Everton and Blair Road.
Freehold residential shophouses a rare breed
According to Joy Tan, head of auction & sales at Edmund Tie, freehold residential shophouses are tightly held and most of these properties are zoned for commercial use.
“This property offers an alternative to landed living in a city-fringe area and would appeal to those who want to escape the urban jungle but remain within walking distance to their workplace,” says Tan.
The new owner could choose to retain the building’s existing facade. As the interiors had been updated seven years ago by the existing tenants and have been well kept, minimal renovation is required, says Tan. However, there’s space to add more bedrooms if needed.
Façade restoration and further addition and alteration works are estimated to cost up to about $160,000, according to the owner who had engaged a designer to give a quotation.
The shophouse was put up for sale by tender in September 2020. However, the timing then was unfavourable as the economy had just emerged from the Covid- 19 “circuit-breaker”.
Some buyers will view the property as “a collectible” given that it is a heritage property, is very rare and is located in a prime conservation area near the CBD. Tan expects interest to come from both owner occupiers as well as investors.
Alternatively, the new owner could explore a change of use and convert the space for co-living. “The potential buyer would certainly consider all three options,” says Tan.
The latest transactions in the Blair Plain Conservation Area was in November and December when two adjacent conservation shophouses along Neil Road that were sold for $7.4 million and $7 million respectively. The shophouses sit on a freehold land areas of 3,457 sq ft and 3,353 sq ft respectively. Prior to that, the shophouse adjacent to 9 Everton Road, namely 8 Everton Road fetched $3.8 million in August last year. The shophouse sits on a land area of just 1,668 sq ft, and the interiors are expected to be extensively renovated.
Greater Southern Waterfront effect
Given its location close to the CBD, Chinatown and future Greater Southern Waterfront, the shophouse at 9 Everton Road is expected to benefit from both rental demand and future capital appreciation, notes Tan.
Under the 2019 Master Plan, Greater Southern Waterfront, which stretches from Pasir Panjang to Marina East, would be transformed into a vibrant live-work-play zone. Tan sees the residents at the Blair Plain conservation area benefitting from their proximity to the future lifestyle offerings and amenities in this new district.
According to Tan, the conservation shophouses in the Blair Plain conservation area, tend to be overlooked. “When one thinks of conservation shophouses in Districts 1 and 2, many would immediately associate them with those in Chinatown, Telok Ayer and Tanjong Pagar.”
She adds that most of the shophouses in these areas are zoned for commercial use and only a handful have received approval for a change of use to residential.
“However, the Blair Plain Conservation Area offers a quaint neighbourhood of mainly residential shophouses. It is also away from the main bustle and hustle of the city centre, offering a more tranquil lifestyle but at the same time, enjoying the proximity to the CBD,” says Tan.