Hougang coffee shop sold for record $23.8m

Hougang coffee shop sold for record $23.8m
PHOTO: Hougang coffee shop sold for record $23.8m

SINGAPORE - A coffee shop in Hougang has been sold at a record price of $23,888,888, Lianhe Wanbao reported on Sunday.

This is the highest ever paid for a Housing Board coffee shop. The previous record was $15 million.

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The buyer of the Coffee Express 2000 coffee shop at Hougang Avenue 4 is Broadway Group, which owns a chain of eating establishments known as Broadway Food Centre in various parts of Singapore.

While a caveat for the 17-stall coffee shop was filed in March, the transaction will be completed only in September.

Some tenants at Coffee Express 2000 told Wanbao that they were worried the sale would affect rents, and force prices at the coffee shop to go up. If this happens, patrons might choose to eat at other coffee shops in the area, one tenant said.

Broadway has declined to respond to media queries so far, the Chinese daily reported.

Analysts the paper spoke to said that the group might have seen value in the high traffic flow at Hougang. There is also a lack of food centres within the vicinity the 4,025 sq ft coffee shop is located in.

One reason for the $23,888,888 figure could be that it sounds auspicious when said in Cantonese.

Lianhe Wanbao said in its report that this was not the first time Broadway Group had forked out a big sum of money for a food establishment.

In 2012, the 16-year-old group purchased the basement food court and shop spaces in Sim Lim Square for $38.8 million.

ljessica@sph.com.sg

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