Wangz Hotel at Outram Road sold for S$46m

Wangz Hotel, the distinctive barrel-shaped aluminium-clad building at the corner of Outram and Tiong Bahru roads, is being sold for S$46 million.

This works out to S$1.12 million per room for the six-storey freehold boutique 41-room hotel. It opened in late 2009.

The hotel is being sold by Glastech Pte Ltd, controlled by Wang Kwang Yu, his wife Kwee Lee Chien (daughter of Pontiac Land Group founder Henry Kwee) and their children.

The buyer is TCRE Partners Pte Ltd, which is equally owned by Tower Capital Asia founder Danny Koh and Y Developments, owned by Ben Yeo and his family. Mr Yeo was the former managing director of engineering and property group Guthrie GTS. His son Nicholas heads TCRE Partners.

Glastech bought the property in 2007 when it was a commercial and residential building and embarked on additions and alterations to convert it to a hotel.

Wangz Hotel was designed by CPG-Timothy Seow Studio. Its rooms go for S$200++ for a superior room and up to S$350++ for a deep suite.

Wangz Hotel’s rooms range from 26 square metres to 47 sq m. There is a lounge in the lobby and a rooftop restaurant.

HVS president, Asia Pacific, Chee Hok Yean said that assuming an average room rate of S$230 and average annual occupancy of 90 per cent, the net yield on the S$46 million price works out to about 3.4 per cent.

Singapore hoteliers are looking forward to increasing room rates this year on the back of tightening net new supply and buoyant visitor arrivals. Ms Chee projects revenue per available room (RevPAR) for Singapore hotels to grow by nearly 3 per cent to S$187 this year, with occupancy and average room rate expected to edge up about one percentage point to 86 per cent and about 2 per cent to S$219, respectively.

With hotels’ profitability expected to improve, Ms Chee is positive on the outlook for the Singapore hotels investment market.

The sale of Wangz Hotel is expected to be completed in the early part of the fourth quarter of this year – after which Glastech will lease back the property till end-2019.

Glastech also owns Forest by Wangz, a serviced apartment development in Moulmein Road; and Wangz Business Centre, a serviced office offering on the top level of Suntec City Tower 1.

TCRE Partners declined to comment on any specific asset plans for Wangz Hotel. However, Mr Nicholas Yeo said that the Singapore-based real estate investment firm seeks to invest in select sectors of the market in key gateway cities.

“Our strategy focuses on ‘blue-chip’ properties across sectors. These would be properties with excellent attributes – island or corner sites, wide frontage, panoramic views, proximity to good transportation nodes and importantly, being anchored to established and dynamic neighbourhoods.

“As an active investment manager, we aim to invest heavily in our properties to ensure the best living and working environment for our customers and clients.”

Since around mid-2017, TCRE Partners has also been the asset manager for Angullia Development, which developed the 54-unit TwentyOne Angullia Park condo.

In March 2017, a consortium of Singaporeans including Mr Koh and Mr Ben Yeo bought all the equity of Angullia Development; at the time 41 units in the project were reported to be unsold.

The company has since selectively sold several apartments in the project at between S$3,600 per square foot and S$4,000 psf, said TCRE Partners.

“We shall release more units for sale in the later part of this year. In addition to the Singapore hospitality sector, we continue to like the residential market here, which is well-regulated and recognising its long-term fundamentals,” it added.

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