Judge rules that Mitre Hotel site will be sold

After being gridlocked for more than a decade by squabbling relatives, the Mitre Hotel site off Orchard Road, estimated to be worth around $100 million, will finally go under the hammer.

Justice Judith Prakash gave the go-ahead for the site to be sold by public tender, after summoning the feuding parties to the High Court yesterday afternoon.

The family tussle began in 1996 when Mr Chiam Heng

Hsien, 61, fought off a move by his cousin Chiam Heng

Luan, 93, and the latter’s daughter Chiam Ai Thong to obtain a court order to sell the site.

The High Court had then allowed the sale, but refused to decree that it could be sold as a vacant site.

The dissenting Mr Chiam remained in the hotel until early last year, when five parties led by Mr Chiam Heng Luan, who together own 45 per cent of the property, filed another suit against eight other parties, led by Mr Chiam Heng Hsien.

The younger Chiam, who is represented by lawyers Andre Maniam and Koh Swee Yen, is managing partner of the hotel and still runs the premises as an improvised boarding house.

But by the time the court case began at the beginning of last week, he was the only one holding out against all the others.

The rest were in agreement with the elder Chiam, who was represented by Senior Counsel Hapreet Singh Nehal.

They wanted Mr Chiam Heng Hsien to vacate the land so they could sell it as a ‘vacant possession’. But Mr Chiam, who owns 10 per cent of the property, resisted, arguing that a 1948 agreement allowed the hotel operators to squat on the land indefinitely until a fair compensation is paid.

Justice Prakash observed last Thursday that all the co-owners, except Mr Chiam Heng Hsien, had given up their lease on the building, leaving him as the sole tenant.

Describing him as a ‘lone ranger’, she noted none of the property’s co-owners shared his ambition to revive Mitre Hotel.

Yesterday, Justice Prakash not only ordered Mr Chiam Heng Hsien to clear out, but also laid down the rules for the sale.

She ruled that a valuation should be done on the 40,000 sq ft site - about half the size of a football field - to be arranged by law firm Drew &; Napier. The valuation, she said, must be kept confidential.

If the tender price exceeds the valuation, the owners will have the option to accept the bid. But if the offers do not meet the valuation price, there should be no sale.

She also ordered that Mr Chiam Heng Hsien vacate the site no later than four weeks before completion of the sale.

It is understood the sale could be conducted within three months, if there is no appeal against the judgment.

The prime land, located in Killiney Road, is expected to draw keen interest. Around 1997, there was an offer to buy the site for more than $72 million.

That offer could not go through, according to court records.

Justice Prakash also ordered the net proceeds of the sale to be kept in a stakeholders’ account until she decides if the partnership that owns the hotel should be paid compensation.

It is understood the hotel’s partners have spent more than $300,000 since the early 1970s renovating and maintaining the building before its days as a hotel ended in 2004.

Source : Straits Times - 1 May 2007