{"id":21734,"date":"2018-12-04T13:10:19","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T05:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.99.co\/blog\/singapore\/?p=21734"},"modified":"2025-08-25T10:38:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T02:38:40","slug":"beauty-world-plaza-golden-mile-complex-en-bloc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.99.co\/singapore\/insider\/beauty-world-plaza-golden-mile-complex-en-bloc\/","title":{"rendered":"Beauty World Plaza vs. Golden Mile Complex: which is the better en bloc?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Beauty World and Golden Mile are the “lifestyle hubs” of Singapore, according to numerous sarcastic comments concerning their recent en bloc attempts. Ignore those clueless people: not only are these two places iconic, they also have a location that would make any property developer reach for the wallet. But which of the two, Beauty World Plaza or Golden Mile Complex, is a better en-bloc prospect? <\/strong>Here’s our analysis:<\/span><\/p>\n

The lowdown on Beauty World Plaza<\/b><\/h3>\n
\"Beauty
Beauty World Plaza, with Beauty World Centre in the foreground. Credits: chooyutshing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The area known as Beauty World started as an amusement park during the Japanese Occupation. As it turns out, \u201camusement\u201d and \u201cbayoneting bystanders\u201d just didn\u2019t work as a combination. The place was eventually re-opened as Beauty World Market in 1947 after the Japanese surrender.<\/span><\/p>\n

By the 1960s, Beauty World was a major cultural and retail hub. It was where a lot of stage plays and getai<\/em> performances happened. It was also\u00a0<\/span>the <\/span><\/i>place to buy textiles, music, and produce \u2014 understandable given its proximity to the Bukit Timah station of the old Singapore-Malaysia Railway.<\/span><\/p>\n

By the \u201870s, Beauty World had become so haphazard it was practically a death trap. It was the site of several fires, two of which were major. The government re-acquired the land for redevelopment in 1975, and in place of the amusement park were three developments, Bukit Timah Shopping Centre (commercial), Beauty World Complex and Beauty World Plaza (mixed commercial-residential).<\/span><\/p>\n

Beauty World Plaza, the smaller of the two commercial-residential mixed developments at 2,305.6 square metres, was put up for collective sale by tender at a reserve price of $165 million on 27 November 2018.<\/strong> The 36 years-old Beauty World Plaza currently consists of 61 retail and 30 residential units, and can be redeveloped into a higher density development as it sits on a plot ratio<\/a> of 3.0.<\/span><\/p>\n

Across the road, another old, strata-titled mixed development, Goh & Goh Building, was sold en bloc for $101.5 million in May 2017. The building sits on freehold land. It has a similar plot ratio to Beauty World Plaza and is slightly larger at 2,868.3 sq m in size. Unlike the mixed Beauty World Plaza, only residential developments are allowed on that plot, hence the cheaper price.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking of lease, the key difference between Beauty World Plaza and Beauty World Centre: Beauty World Plaza has a 999-year lease (from year 1884), whereas Beauty World Complex is just 99 years (from 1979). (Bukit Timah Shopping Centre is also 999-year leasehold status.)<\/p>\n

With only a handful of residential units and the fact that it’s an ageing property, transactions for Beauty World Plaza have been few and far between. The latest two transactions were in 2015 \u2014 the year Beauty World MRT opened. A 5th floor, 700 sq ft unit was sold at $785,000 ($1,122 psf), and an 8th floor, 926 sq ft unit changed hands for $1.09 million ($1,177 psf).<\/p>\n

Before these two transactions, no other unit was sold at above $800 psf. The below chart shows the meteoric rise in value of Beauty World Plaza residential units from 2003 to 2015.<\/p>\n

\"Beauty<\/p>\n

With such staggering capital appreciation, it was surely a sign of things to come. If the current en bloc attempt proves successful, each owner will stand to pocket $1.5 to 2 million. A submission has also been made to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) by brokering agent Knight Frank to change the use of the residential component to serviced apartments, which if approved could further attract developers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are the major draws for Beauty World Plaza site:<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n