Tan Boon Liat's 50-year furniture hub goes en bloc — S$950m ends 150 showrooms

Built in 1976, Tan Boon Liat Building at 315 Outram Road spent its first decades holding photography studios, shipping companies and logistics businesses. In the late 2000s furniture retailers started moving in, and the building became Singapore's best-known furniture hub — by 2026 its 150 units were mostly showrooms and warehouses for home decor, furnishings and carpets, with veterans like Razorsharp on the ground floor for over 20 years and Journey East on the third floor since 2009.

The building was first launched for collective sale in February 2025 at a reserve price of S$1.15 billion and found no buyer. On 21 July 2026 it sold to Kingsford Group for S$950 million — Singapore's biggest en bloc deal of the year — subject to Strata Titles Board approval, with the freehold site potentially redeveloped into twin towers of up to 48 storeys.

For the tenants the question is not whether but when: many leases still have time to run, and nobody has a vacate date. Some tenants fear losing 40 to 50 per cent of their business restarting elsewhere, against rising rents and overseas competition; one showroom was renovated six months ago, another opened a second unit four months ago, and the newest MRT station barely had time to help. Thirteen brands are trying to organise a collective move so the ecosystem survives the building.