Portfolio of Houses by Wee Family up for Sale on Thiam Siew Avenue
A quiet street called Thiam Siew Avenue is located between Haig Road, Tanjong Katong Road, and has only 25 houses. The majority of these houses are single-storey semi-detached and semi-detached bungalows, as well as pre-war houses, that sit on approximately 9,000 to 10,000 square feet each.
Shopping heaven, Orchard Road is just a walking distance away from Irwell Hill Residences residences.
These properties are the legacy left by Wee Thiam Siew (a property magnate and hotelier) who died in 1972. Thiam Siew Avenue Investments owns the properties. Wee Thiam Siew & Co is the beneficiary. Many of the beneficiaries are members of the family. Wee, a distinguished businessman, was the chairman of Ban Leong & Co. They were dealers in tobacco, cigars and cigarette. He also owned The New 7th Storey Hotel, Lion City Hotel, and Hollywood Theatre at Tanjong Katong Road.
The New 7th Storey Hotel, which actually had nine floors, was the tallest structure built on Rochor Road in 1953. The government purchased the hotel in 2008 to construct the Bugis MRT Interchange Station on the Downtown Line. It opened December 2013.
The Hollywood Theatre, Tanjong Katong Road, was built in 1957. It was opened in 1958 by Loke Wan Tho (a cinema magnate). It was home to Hong Kong’s most famous stars, such as Fung Bo Bo Bo and Siao Fong Fong. In the 1990s, the cinema was closed. It became home to City Harvest Church, then a food centre, and finally Sheng Siong supermarket.
The Lion City Hotel is located adjacent to the Hollywood Theatre and was opened in 1968. It was owned and operated until December 2010 by the Wee family. They decided to sell both the Lion City Hotel as well as the adjacent Hollywood Theatre. The Singapore-listed UOL Group, which was listed on January 11, 2011, announced that it had bought Lion City Hotel and Hollywood Theatre worth $311 million.
UOL transformed the site into a mixed use development. The four-storey Kinex Mall has a net area of 202.191 sq.ft. The 244-unit Katong Regency above spans three blocks of nine to ten storeys. All units in the condominium’s freehold were sold within one week, at an average of $1,608 per square foot. Units were sold on the resale marketplace at $1,797 per square foot, with caveats according to URA Realis.
The old residence of Wee at 525 Dunman Road is located right behind the Thiam Siew Avenue houses. It was also situated on a large land plot. The family had sold the corner parcel that fronted Haig Road to the government, and it was then offered for sale by the government under the government land sales program (GLS). Far East Organization acquired the site in 1997 with a 99 year lease. The site was later developed into Dunman View in 2004, an 18-storey condo with 148 units.
Wee Thiam Siew & Co was one of the Wee family’s vehicles. They developed the Dunman Road plot into a terraced housing development called Dunman Grove. They were finished in 1990 and a road was built for them.
A decade ago, some owners of Dunman Grove’s terraced houses sold their properties to Hoi Hup Realty. The 18-storey, 122-unit Questa @ Dunman was built on the site. This condo, which is freehold and built in 2013, has a mixture of one- and two-bedroom suites. Its sizes range from 431 to 1,467 square feet.
The largest divestment of property
Galven Tan, Savills Singapore’s deputy managing director for capital markets, has been appointed as the exclusive marketing agent by the Wee family. The land on which the Thiam Siew Avenue houses were built was originally part of Wee’s private estate at 525 Dunman Road.
He decided to build houses there as a rental income in the pre-war years. The original name of the road was Thiam Siew Road, but he renamed it Thiam Siew Avenue after 1940.
In the post-war years, the Rent Control Act brought the Thiam Siew Avenue houses under its control. The family continued to lease the properties even after the Rent Control Act was repealed in 2001. Savills’ Tan says that many of the tenants are long-standing ones.
The Wee family plans to sell 22 land-plots and 25 houses along Thiam Siew Avenue after close to 80 years.
Semi-detached houses at No. The pre-war years were in the 1940s. 1-17 were built between 1941 and 1945. Two bungalows are located in the same row as No. The pre-war years also saw the construction of 19 and 21. The four semi-detached houses located at 23 to 29 were constructed in 2007, however. These houses, which make up Plot 1, are situated on freehold land of 135,361 square feet.
The even-numbered houses at No. 2-22. The houses at No. The houses at No. 2 through 16 are prewar-era semi detached houses. The three bungalows at 18 and 22 date back to the prewar era. These houses are located on a total freehold area of 128,436 square feet and form Plot 2.