Tenant paying S$52,188 monthly rent to run Tampines West clinic says it's worth it

A healthcare service firm that successfully placed a S$52,188 monthly rental bid for a commercial unit in a Tampines West housing estate made headlines recently.

In response, one of the co-owners of the firm told The Straits Times they can cover costs due to the attractive attributes of the area.

Attractive location for a clinic

Andrew Chim, 37, who co-owns I-Health Medical Holdings with Shaun Lum, said the shop on the ground floor of Block 954C Tampines Street 96 is 50 sq m (538 sq ft), and situated in an area with five Build-To-Order projects with 5,000 households, as well as a mix-use project and shopping mall.

It had the best attributes among recent units available for general practitioner clinics, he told ST.

The Tampines West clinic is opening on Jun. 26.

There are five other clinics in the vicinity.

It was reported that I-Health has three other clinics in the heartland areas and pay between S$7,000 and S$10,000 in rent per month for each one.

High rent sparked public interest

Bidding for the unit closed in January and the results were out in March

Public interest was sparked recently in June.

A total of 13 bids for the premises with a three-year lease were placed.

Lum was the stated winner announced by the Housing and Development Board (HDB).

This is the first time I-Health successfully tendered for a HDB unit, ST reported.

Could influence private property landlords

Healthcare practitioner Hisham Badaruddin shared the bidding result on LinkedIn and said it was an "obscene" amount to pay for rental.

The post was reshared widely on social media.

The concern moving forward was that private property landlords might use the S$52,188 rental as a benchmark.

Chim countered that this is provided there are tenants who can afford this amount, it was reported.

He added that I-Health will keep its consultation affordable at S$30 to S$35.

The clinic will operate with one doctor and add another after a year, according to ST.

It expects to see 70 to 90 patients a day in the first year and turn a profit within two years

It will open from 8:30am to 3pm and 5:30pm to 10pm, as well as on weekends and public holidays.

Top photos via Unsplash & Google Maps