By Tan Dawn Wei
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The mansion mired in a legal battle between the Brunei Sultan's brother and the country's national investment agency could well be Singapore's most expensive residence.
Owned by Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the younger brother of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Arwaa Mansion at 46B and 48 Nassim Road is said to be worth at least a jaw-dropping $120 million.
That figure for a home, even in land-scarce Singapore, is not something you hear about every day. Even property pundits that The Sunday Times spoke to were hard-pressed to think of a residential address that could fetch that kind of value.
There are only between 2,500 and 3,000 good-class bungalows with at least 15,070 sq ft of land area here.
Based on the Urban Redevelopment Authority's numbers, the average cost of a good-class bungalow was $13.8 million last year.
What could possibly make the Brunei royal's Nassim address worth that princely sum? Size, location, possibly even its pedigree ownership.
Industry observers believe that the palatial property, which stands on top of a hill, has such a staggering value because of its sheer size.
The mansion sits on a land area of about 110,000 sq ft. The area was the result of merging two pieces of property with different addresses. Imagine 92 five-room HDB flats combined.
'It is part of Singapore's most desirable and prestigious residential area,' said Savills Singapore's director of prestige homes Steven Ming.
'But each property value is unique,' he said.
And this none-too-humble villa is special because, well, it belongs to a prince.
'You would assume that only good-quality stuff went in there, so there is a premium attached to it,' said one industry pundit.
The mansion made news last Friday after it was reported that the Brunei Investment Agency, which manages the Brunei government's General Reserve Fund and external assets, wants Singapore's courts to get the 53-year-old prince to hand over the property.
Homes in the $100 million club are few and far between.
Said Credo Real Estate managing director Karamjit Singh: 'Over the years, governments and corporations that have owned large properties have been selling them and they get re-developed and sub-divided. So such big properties are very rare.'
Property pundits say that large parcels still exist, owned mostly by the old rich or foreign governments to house their embassies.
'Some are sitting on land that has been passed down for generations and it goes into the $100 million category because you can build 20 storeys on it,' said Mr Ku Swee Yong, the director of business development and marketing for Savills.
He singled one out: Mitre Hotel in Killiney Road, which some have estimated could fetch $200 million for its nearly 40,000 sq ft of land. Its prime location and plot ratio mean it has good redevelopment potential.
Size isn't the only thing that matters when it comes to how many zeroes go into a property's value. In areas like Katong, property can fetch a premium since plot ratios there are higher than those in town, like in Nassim. That means more units can be built.
Dr Della Suantio Lee, the wife of Mr Lee Seng Gee, the eldest son of late philanthropist Lee Kong Chian, was said to have sold a 115,300 sq ft piece of property in Meyer Road to the Hong Leong Group for about $200 million last year.
Even fengshui plays a part, albeit a much smaller one.
'Some wealthy Chinese businessmen will consider how wide the gate at a bungalow is, whether it's sloping up or down or whether it faces a good house,' said Mr Ku.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on 29 June 2008.
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By K. C. Vijayan
THE fight between Brunei's national investment firm and the sultan's brother, Prince Jefri Bolkiah, has reached Singapore's courts.
The prize in this legal battle: the prince's now-unoccupied Nassim Road mansion, worth at least $120 million and believed to have housed valuable artworks and other assets.
The prince, the younger brother of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, is already mired in tussles with the Brunei Investment Agency (BIA) over his assets elsewhere, including those in London and New York.
The BIA, which the sultan oversees, is the main agency holding and managing the Brunei government's General Reserve Fund and its external assets.
In the fight for the Nassim Road property, the BIA is represented here by Senior Counsel Vinodh Coomaraswamy.
According to court documents filed in the Supreme Court, the BIA is seeking a court order to compel the 53-year-old prince to hand over the title to the premises.
The Registrar of Titles here requires a Singapore court order for the BIA to be registered as the legal owner of the mansion.
Prince Jefri, defended here by lawyer George Pereira, is contesting the application.
A hearing has been fixed for October.
The plush Nassim Road premises, named Arwaa mansion, were understood to have been used by Prince Jefri up to the year 2000.
The house, having been developed as a single structure from two back-to-back properties with different addresses, has entrances on two roads.
Although unoccupied, it is guarded round the clock by private security staff; cleaners are also there regularly.
In a bid to keep it in his possession, Prince Jefri is expected to argue, among other things, that Arwaa mansion was excluded, and therefore separate, from matters heard before the Brunei courts as part of the enforcement proceedings started there against him in 2004.
The prince, who left Brunei that year and now lives in France, is expected to ask the courts here to return Arwaa mansion to him.
His assets in London are still the subject of court enforcement.
Over in New York, a court ordered in March that he hand over ownership of the plush New York Palace hotel in Manhattan to the Brunei government.
It has been reported, however, that the court has barred its sale because the prince is disputing the order for a chance at ownership.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on 27 June 2008.
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