The new Medical suites at the forthcoming Farrer Medical Centre will also be open to retail investors, although with set limitations. It must be understood by the investors that the tenants that they will choose need to meet some professional standards that the medical board at the incorporated Farrer Park Hospital has demanded. In addition, the suites are limited for lease to doctors.
One of the top doctors behind the project, Maurice Choo, said that it is important to ensure that the clinical practice have high quality as she acknowledges that some retail investors have lost their enthusiasm due to this limitation.
According to Dr Choo, a doctor who specializes in heart problems and presently working at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, “If you are a savvy, wise investor, you will know that if I bring in a rotten apple, the whole thing (project) will go down. Of course, a short sighted investor will say this is bad for me. But a long term investor will say this is a very, very far-sighted organisation. They want to be sure that every doctor who comes in to this place is of quality, so that the value (of the suites) goes up, including mine.”
Now selling at a price of $3,100 per square foot (psf) on the average, the Farrer Medical Centre is primarily targeting the Doctors. However, Dr Choo said that the project has still managed to attract corporate and retail investors who have bought in the initial phase of launch a handful of units.
The suites, which range from 560 sq. ft to 1,421 sq ft cost from $1.7 million to $4.4 million. It was in December 2007 which the 99-year tenure had begun. The project demand is expected to come from both the foreign and local doctors.
“Because every year, we produce about 300 local doctors. We also have an influx of foreign doctors. Soon, Duke (Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School) will produce 50 doctors. So we are looking at an annual input of 500-600 doctors. Now, the number of suites that are coming on stream are limited,” the doctor said.
To date, 45 percent of the Farrer Medical Centre has been sold. According to Dr Choo, all suites are not intended to be sold as they plan to leave some flexibility to draw top surgeons and academia all throughout the world at the later stage. Dr Choo has not set specific target for the ongoing sale of Phase 2.
“If I’m all sold out, how am I going to do that? I will have to kick somebody out. So I must have the financial strength to reserve some of that to cherry pick some of the top medical hands, and eyes in the world to enhance this whole thing. Not just for me but for everybody who is there. Let’s say, if I draw a top stem cells transplant surgeon in, the stem cell transplant surgeon will draw in patients, who will then refer cases to the lung physician, the X-ray. Everybody benefits. Plus the retail investor,” he added.