Nissan agent Tan Chong Motor is putting up another showroom for sale, six months after it said that it was closing its Bukit Timah flagship outlet.

Meanwhile, businessman Peter Kwee is selling two showrooms in Leng Kee Road.

Tan Chong’s three-storey facility in Toa Payoh Lorong 8 is on the market for $13.5 million, real estate agent Savills Singapore said yesterday.

The showroom on a 5,457.4 sq m plot is next to a Subaru complex also owned by Tan Chong. The lease tenure is 30 plus 30 years, starting from March 1, 1993.

A Tan Chong Motor spokesman said the facility is underused and the company is considering “a few options, including redevelopment and selling the site”.

“With the COE (certificate of entitlement) supply shrinking in the coming years, the showroom is under-utilised,” she said.

The Hong Kong-listed motor group has two other Nissan showrooms here – in the Leng Kee and Ubi motor belts.

Tan Chong Motor set up an outfit called T8 Gallery at its Toa Payoh showroom in 2010 to carry out parallel importing. The Straits Times understands that the venture did not gain much traction.

Savills Singapore senior director of investment sales Suzie Mok said: “It is an extremely scarce and unique opportunity to acquire an impressive approved car showroom in central Toa Payoh with a long balance tenure. Subject to approvals, there is potential… to maximise its unutilised plot ratio of approximately 1.5 times.”

The facility, completed in the 1990s, comprises a car showroom, office and workshop on the first storey, general offices on the second and warehousing on the third.

Two other motor showrooms in Leng Kee Road, both owned by businessman Peter Kwee, are also up for sale: No. 3 and No. 19.

Mr Kwee said: “I have exited the car business, so holding on to them has no meaning. Initially, I thought I might return to the business. But now, I just want to focus on my hospitality business.”

He owns Laguna National Golf and Country Club and has built a hotel, the Dusit Thani, on its grounds.

According to marketing agent Knight Frank, No. 3, with a balance lease of 33 years, is going for $15 million. It is a two-storey complex with a land area of 1,507 sq m.

No. 19, with a lease balance of 35 years, is going for $23 million. The five-storey facility has a half-basement carpark, land area of 1,358 sq m and floor area of 2,697 sq m.

Knight Frank Singapore industrial head Tan Boon Leong said that for those in the motor trade, “this is an opportune time to own a corporate building”. He added: “The superb location next to Redhill MRT station, plus a ready pool of labour from the nearby catchment of residential developments, will definitely enhance the value of the properties in the medium term.”

The two properties are currently rented by motor tycoon Karsono Kwee, who said that if the sales go through, he would have alternatives.

“No. 3 is really just for storing and washing cars,” he said. “As for No. 19, I have plans, but I can always shift to No. 11, which I own.”

His Eurokars Group is developing a mega complex in Kung Chong Road, off Leng Kee Road. The $100 million corporate headquarters is expected to be ready in early 2021.

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