JL Family Office’s maiden residential development on Broadrick Road priced from $18 mil

Cecilia Chow

27 June 2024 at 9:00 pm·9-min read

A fortnight ago, a newly built detached house at 12A Broadrick Road was quietly sold for $18 million. A caveat has yet to be lodged. The 2½-storey detached house sits on a freehold site of 6,600 sq ft. The land rate of $2,730 psf has set a new benchmark for houses on Broadrick Road, just off Mountbatten Road in prime District 15 of East Coast.

The property is one of a pair of 2½-storey detached houses developed by The Land Managers. Founded by Andy Lim in November 2020 with an initial committed capital of $250 million, The Land Managers is the real estate investment and development firm of John Lim Family Office or JLFO, with Lim as the group CEO.

His father, John Lim, was the co-founder and group CEO of ARA Asset Management, which had the backing of Hong Kong’s wealthiest tycoon, Li Ka-Shing of CK Asset Holdings. In 2022, ARA Asset Management was acquired by Hong Kong-based ESR Group for US$5.2 billion in stocks and cash.

Since then, John Lim has vaulted to the top 50 richest in Singapore, with a net worth of US$1.1 billion ($1.49 billion), according to Forbes. Through The Land Managers, the younger Lim has reinvented himself as a property developer and real estate investor.

The detached house at 12A Broadrick Road was just sold for $18 million or $2,730 psf, setting a new price benchmark for the Broadrick Road area (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)

The freehold bungalow plot at 12A Broadrick Road was purchased for $18.1 million ($1,401 psf) in May 2021. When Lim purchased the 12,930 sq ft site, there stood only an old bungalow, built in 1964 and left vacant for a number of years.

From the start, Lim had intended to redevelop the site and subdivide it into two smaller detached houses. During the planning stage, he was struck by the similarities between the configuration of the subdivided plots and that of his conservation shophouse at 65 Club Street. The 3½-storey shophouse sits on a 999-year leasehold site of 2,083 sq ft, with a built-up area of 5,400 sq ft. He purchased the shophouse for $15.7 million ($2,907 psf) in August 2020, marking The Land Managers’ maiden shophouse acquisition in Singapore.

The property is not just JLFO’s headquarters today but also a showcase of Singapore’s heritage and local artists. “Singapore’s shophouses are long and have one common characteristic: an internal courtyard in the middle for light and air,” says Lim. He, therefore, decided to create internal courtyards for his shophouse-inspired detached houses on Broadrick Road. He named the development The Courtyards.

The pair of newly completed detached houses at 12A and 12L Broadrick Road (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)

‘Merging heritage with modernity’

“My development philosophy is to always try and merge heritage with modernity,” says Lim. Besides elements of the conservation shophouse, the monochromatic façade of the houses pays homage to the colonial-era black-and-white bungalows.

According to Lim, he had always wished to live in one of these black-and-white bungalows when he was younger. “Every time we drove by one of these houses, I used to admire their architecture,” he recounts. “Even though they represent architecture from the past, I always wanted to bring some of that elegance and style into my real estate when I decided to become a developer.”

Designed by Lua Architects Associates and built by main contractor OneQ, The Courtyards also pays tribute to its heritage in the Mountbatten Road estate, where many of the old wealthy families had beachfront homes in the late 19th to early 20th centuries.

Although the layout of the two houses is not identical, they are almost mirror images of each other, with some slight differences, Lim notes. The detached house at 12A Broadrick Road has a site footprint of 6,600 sq ft, relative to 12L Broadrick Road’s 6,400 sq ft land area. The built-up area of 12A Broadrick Road is also slightly bigger at 9,387 sq ft compared to 12L’s 9,257 sq ft. At 17.9m, the length of the lap pool at 12A is also slightly longer than the 16.6m at 12L.

The dry kitchen and dining area overlooking the 17.9m lap pool at 12A Broadrick Road (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)

However, all the interior finishing and fittings are identical across both houses. For the wet and dry kitchens, interior design studio Sujonohun selected top-end European brand appliances such as Gaggenau, Bosch and Liebherr. The kitchen countertops are Caesarstone, which is hardier than marble. The bathrooms boast sanitary ware from leading brands such as Hansgrohe and Duravit.

Lim had flown to Carrara, Italy, to personally select the marble for the living and dining room flooring on the first level of the two houses, as well as the feature wall in the master bathrooms.

His focus is also on space optimisation. Each house has five bedrooms, with the master suite and three other bedrooms on the second level. The attic level contains the junior master suite and another room, which is en suite. It can be used as a sixth bedroom, an entertainment room, or a gym if needed. “A buyer should have the flexibility to create their own space,” says Lim.

With the full-height glass windows and doors on the sides of the houses to bring in more daylight, the other consideration was privacy. Hence, planter boxes were created on the balconies for future homeowners to plant trees. The homeowners could also put up curtains or screens, Lim adds.

The detached house at 12L Broadrick Road is now available for sale at prices from $18 million ($2,813 psf).

The elliptical shape of the two lap pools (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)

‘Value-add play’

During property viewings, Lim would try to find out more about the potential buyers. “It’s not just people living in the east who are drawn to the location,” he says. “There are also those living in condos in the prime Orchard Road districts who are considering upgrading to a house in District 15, which is quite a leap since it means moving to the city fringe.”

The Land Managers will continue to look for “good-quality sites” in prime residential areas for landed property development. Having lived in the Katong neighbourhood since he was 19, Lim is familiar with the District 15 neighbourhoods.

While he continues to search for development sites in the east, another area that he sees prospects in is the Novena area in prime District 11. “It’s a great location, but some parts are looking a bit tired, with old houses sitting on large land-plots,” he observes. “However, it’s an opportunity for me to refresh the neighbourhood.”

He intends to focus on land sizes of at least 10,000 sq ft, which gives him greater flexibility in developing detached, semi-detached or terraced houses. Lim wants to continue developing residential properties that “blend heritage with luxury”. He adds: “We hope to create a niche for ourselves in Singapore.”

Even though prices of both landed properties and shophouses have soared, Lim believes there are still opportunities in these two segments through his “value-add play”.

The conservation shophouse at 65 Club Street was purchased for 15.7 million ($2,907 psf) in August 2020 and is now JLFO’s headquarters (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)

Focus on shophouses in District 1

In the shophouse segment, he wants to concentrate on the CBD area, primarily the Telok Ayer Conservation Area of District 1. Today, The Land Managers owns two shophouses along Club Street. About 15 months after purchasing the 3½-storey shophouse at 65 Club Street, Lim bought the shophouse at 64 Club Street across the road for $26.038 million in November 2021.

The double-storey conservation shophouse at 64 Club Street has a basement and mezzanine floor, with a lift serving all floors. The 999-year leasehold shophouse sits on a land area of 2,249 sq ft with a built-up area of 5,618 sq ft. The $26 million price tag works out to $4,635 psf, setting a new benchmark for prices in Club Street.

Lim has turned the property at 64 Club Street into a social impact hub under the Lim Hoon Foundation of JLFO. The foundation advocates equal opportunity access for disadvantaged students. Since the social impact hub opened in September 2023, it has been a venue for 90 events by local social enterprises, not-for-profit organisations and corporations aimed at education, youth and mental wellness. “It’s our way of giving back to society and Singapore,” says Lim. “It keeps us connected to the community.”

The corner shophouse at 64 Club Street, purchased for $26 million ($4,635 psf) in November 2021, has been converted into a social impact hub under the Lim Hoon Foundation of JLFO (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)

By turning it into a social impact hub instead of renting it out, Lim may have given up about $500,000 in annual rental income. “But the social capital I have gotten back has exceeded whatever I gave up in terms of rent,” he says. “It’s not a profit-making enterprise.”

However, for his value-add strategy to work in the shophouse segment, Lim reckons he needs to re-enter the market at lower entry prices. “I’m looking out to see if there are such deals,” he says. “For conservation shophouses, it’s about long-term capital gains, not yields.”

Since his foray into Club Street four years ago, Lim has seen the street morph into a hub for family offices. Besides JLFO’s properties at 64 and 65 Club Street, Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio’s Dalio Family Office is said to have purchased two adjoining shophouses at 44 and 46 Club Street for $12.35 million and $13.15 million, respectively, in July 2021, bringing the aggregate purchase price to $25.5 million.

The freehold logistics property at 40 Garden Street in East Melbourne, Australia, which The Land Managers purchased for A$26.5 million ($24 million) [Photo: JLFO]

Global portfolio

Lim has also positioned The Land Managers as a developer with a global footprint. In August 2022, Savills Investment Management launched its second UK-focused fund, with The Land Managers as its cornerstone investor.

The GBP200 million ($343.6 million) fund will focus primarily on build-to-rent developments in the UK market, which is underserved. “We believe we can add value with the build-to-rent strategy in the UK,” says Lim.

In October 2023, The Land Managers and other co-investors acquired a freehold logistics property at 40 Garden Street in East Melbourne, Australia, for A$26.5 million ($24 million). The deal marks The Land Managers’ first direct acquisition in Australia.

The logistics property sits on a land parcel of 399,764 sq ft with a gross leasable area of 114,604 sq ft. “We believe there is a window of opportunity to capitalise on the tight supply dynamics in the Australian logistics space,” says Lim. “We are intensifying the leasable area of the building.”

His investment and development strategy works in the current climate of high interest rates, a paradigm shift from the low interest rate era of the past two decades. “If you’re a real estate investor today and buying based on yield alone, it is not impossible, but it will have to be reflected in the acquisition price,” he says. “A value-add strategy allows us to extract a higher return from our assets.”

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