PRIVATE equity firm Lucrum Capital has put a freehold boutique hotel under construction at Killiney Road up for sale at S$195 million.

The seven-storey Mama Shelter Singapore Orchard hotel in District 9 will be operated by French hospitality company Accor’s Ennismore and is expected to open in the first quarter of 2025, marketing agent CBRE said on Thursday (Apr 25).

Lucrum Capital had acquired the site in a collective sale of Tai Wah Building in 2017 for S$84.9 million. This was around 5 per cent above the asking price of S$81 million, and translates to about S$2,209 per square foot per plot ratio. 

The firm had planned to redevelop the property into a serviced apartment, with commercial units on the first floor.

It subsequently sought approval to build a hotel on the plot, which would be a six-storey, 115-room development with a street frontage restaurant on the ground floor.

In 2019, Lucrum Capital put the Killiney Road site on the market, seeking in excess of S$155 million. The property did not find takers, and the firm proceeded to start construction on a hotel.

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The current price tag of S$195 million works out to around S$1.7 million per room.

The property occupies a site area of 13,148 square feet and will comprise 115 rooms. It will also include a restaurant on the ground floor and a rooftop pool and bar, with a 40-metre-wide main road frontage along Killiney Road.

Under the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s 2019 Master Plan, the site is zoned “hotel” with a gross plot ratio of 2.8 and gross floor area of about 39,628 sq ft.

“Freehold hotels in the Orchard Road submarket are rarely available for sale,” said Michael Tay, CBRE Singapore’s head of capital markets.

“We expect this investment opportunity to appeal greatly and garner strong interest from a wide range of investors, such as family offices, boutique real estate funds, local companies and high-net-worth individuals.” 

Tay noted that the property is in the vicinity of various new projects in the Orchard area, such as Lendlease and Live Nation’s upcoming event space at Grange Road open-air car park. 

Singtel will also be redeveloping its headquarters – located just beside Mama Shelter Singapore – jointly with Lendlease. The new development is expected to have a total gross floor area of more than 110,000 square metres, comprising Grade A office buildings and a retail podium.

The hotel will be lifestyle hotel chain Mama Shelter’s first entry into Asia-Pacific. The brand has a total of 2,600 rooms across 18 properties around the world, including in cities such as Paris, Los Angeles and London, as at the end of 2023.

The expression of interest exercise for the Killiney Road site will close on May 30 at 3 pm.