Three adjoining shophouses along North Bridge Road opposite Bugis Junction are being sold for a total of S$72 million.

The buyer is understood to be an affiliate of Clifton Partners, a Singapore-based real estate investment management company specialising in conservation shophouses.

The trio of 999-year leasehold shophouses – comprising 490 North Bridge Road (which is next to Bugis Cube), 492 North Bridge Road and 494 North Bridge Road – have a total land area of 4,853 square feet (sq ft).

Their floor area is about 15,000 sq ft. The ground-floor space is used as a coffee shop and a restaurant. On the upper floors are a backpacker hostel and other accommodation.

There is scope for substantial value-adding asset enhancement works on the properties; this could potentially see the floor area expanded to 23,000 to 25,000 sq ft.

Two of the three shophouses have four storeys and the remaining property has three storeys.

The shophouses are part of the Beach Road Conservation Area, a secondary settlement where shophouses can have a rear extension of up to five or six storeys, although there are some qualifications.

No 490, owned by four elderly members of a low-profile family, fetched S$24 million.

Another member of the same family owns Nos 492 and 494, which are being sold for S$48 million.

The Business Times reported recently that the unit next door, No 496 – at the corner of North Bridge Road and Liang Seah Street – is being sold for S$42 million.

The four-storey property has a popular dessert outlet at street level and a family karaoke outlet occupying the rest of the building. Heap Seng Group is selling that property to the Lim family behind 1855 F&B and wine and spirits retailer 1855 The Bottle Shop.

The shophouse is opposite 516 North Bridge Road, also at the corner of Liang Seah Street, which houses barbecue restaurant Mr Mookata.

Industry players note that these five properties are the only conservation shophouses with full commercial zoning in the Tan Quee Lan Street/North Bridge Road/Liang Seah Street shophouse cluster. The other shophouses in this stretch are zoned “commercial and residential”.