Top News

The 18,860-square-meter site at 8 Thomson Lane, which has a freehold title, was sold with a 105-year leasehold tenure, The Business Times reported, citing a caveat lodged last week.

It is currently designated for hotel use under the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Master Plan 2025. The seller, Chequers Properties, has reportedly obtained in-principle approval from the agency to convert the site for residential development.

The buyer is a joint venture led by Sustained Land, a Singapore-based residential developer founded and owned by tycoon Douglas Ong, and including construction firm Kay Lim Realty.

The site sits in Singapore’s prime District 11, near the Singapore Polo Club, United Square’s retail offerings, the Novena area medical cluster and schools including St Joseph’s Institution International and CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh). It is also close to the Toa Payoh MRT station and the future Mount Pleasant MRT station.

The site was once home to a historic country bungalow that later became a hotel and resort before housing an EtonHouse International School campus that closed in 2023.

The late Lee Kong Chian was formerly known as the “rubber king” for setting up the Lee Rubber Company as a small rubber smokehouse and growing it into a multimillion-dollar business.

He later expanded into banking and led the merger of three banks that formed OCBC Bank in 1932. OCBC is now Southeast Asia’s second-largest bank by assets.

One of his grandsons was reported to be buying a bungalow on Barker Road for S$43.2 million earlier this year. Another grandson had acquired two vertically stacked units at the Seven Palms Sentosa Cove condominium for a combined S$23.9 million shortly before that.

Forbes ranked the Lee family 11th on its list of the richest people in Singapore last September, estimating their net worth at US$7.75 billion.