When people think of Orchard Road, shopping and malls are the first things to come to mind. Landed houses, not so much. Even then, one would imagine that you would need to be a Crazy Rich Asian to afford a house there.
Hence, I was somewhat surprised to find that property listings started from $5.8 million (at the time of writing.) Now I’m not suggesting that $5.8 million is a small sum, but given that a terrace at Nallur Road is also going for $5.8 million (albeit a newer property), landed houses at Lucky Plaza suddenly don’t seem as expensive as I had previously thought.
Note that I’m not saying “expensive” and not “unaffordable”- something may not be that expensive but is not necessarily affordable! Also, if you’re thinking where on earth is Nallur Road- that’s exactly my point! (It’s in the East if you really wanted to know.)
First, let’s define the area we’re looking at, namely Jalan Kayu Manis, Jalan Lada Puteh and Jalan Jintan, 3 roads off Nutmeg Road, which is behind Lucky Plaza/Tangs and Scotts Plaza. Owning a landed house in Orchard Road is, as you can see, pretty exclusive – there are only so many properties here! (There are a few more over at Paragon, but not many, as well as some near Four Seasons Hotel, but the latter are more expensive.)
The very small area that we are looking at.
The easiest and most obvious way to enter the estate is to take the road between Lucky Plaza and Paragon. There are other ways to get to the estate which I’ll point out later.Oh dear, not an auspicious start to the beginning of our journey!The walk in is rather uphill. Never realised Lucky Plaza had apartments! (So does Centrepoint FYI.) This is Nutmeg Road to our right by the way.See how close the properties are to Paragon! (Also Mount Elizabeth – not sure if that’s good or bad. Some people don’t like to live near hospitals whilst others find it potentially convenient. One thing to note is that the area sees a fair bit of traffic so you have to cross the road carefully. However, on the walkabout, I discovered other ways to get to the houses that I’ll show you later!)There are some shophouses just before the landed properties, but nothing terribly exciting. A cafe or gourmet deli would have been nice but I’m guessing there are not enough residents to support it (and visitors of Orchard Road don’t normally walk up this way.) Not an issue though since the plethora of shops, restaurants and whatnot at Orchard Road are literally right at your doorstep.The first row of houses we see.
No offence to anyone living there, but the houses were older than I expected. I guess I thought Orchard Road meant modern and glitzy, but the properties are more down-to-earth. Although there is something being rebuilt on the right so maybe that will be more in line with what I had thought! (Also note the serious plot ratio maximisation potential- that building looks twice as tall as the older ones!)
Looking down at the row of houses. Gosh the Mount E tower is terribly close!
Do note how the properties on the first row (to the right) are located below the next row (on the left) – the ground floor for that row of properties might really be more like a semi-basement and may not receive too much light or wind.
Close-up of some houses. I am guessing the originals were 2 stories, but some have been rebuilt into taller properties, from what I see.The road slopes upwards towards Mount E. (So there are slopes in 2 directions, if that makes sense.)Glancing behind me so you can appreciate the hilly area, and the proximity to shops. Walking along Nutmeg Road towards the second road in this landed estate. That would be Jalan Lada Puteh, which we showed as the feature image for this article. (The first is Jalan Kayu Manis.)No smoking in Orchard (see here).Look down more houses. Quite a bit of construction for such a small enclave! Note the white line, which means residents and guests won’t be able to avail themselves of street-side parking.Photo to highlight how much taller one can build.Oh, this row (Jalan Lada Puteh), whilst still close to Mount E, at least is not blocked off by a tall tower (unlike Jalan Kayu Manis.) Example of charming vintage architecture. I haven’t seen that style of balcony railing in a while!Newer units look to have been rebuilt by the same person. Maybe owned by family members?I like the house on the right!End of the road and some clever parking by residents so that they’re technically not street side. The gates must be pretty wide to fit a Mercedes length-wise!Remember how I said Jalan Lada Puteh isn’t blocked by a tall building? Well looking in, it’s not (see the previous pic.) Unfortunately looking right, towards Jalan Kayu Manis, it is (see above!)Looking back down Jalan Lada Puteh, towards Scotts and Tangs. Somehow, this road looks more level than Jalan Kayu Manis? (If all this talk of slopes is confusing you, the thing to take away is that the Lucky Plaza landed enclave is on sloped land, with Jalan Kayu Manis the lowest lying of the 3 streets and Jalan Jintan the highest.)Since I had mentioned that street side parking is not allowed, here is a photo to show you that you can fit one car on your porch.Some can even fit 2! (Squint through the red gate.)Nice colourful house to add character to the hood! Walking out of Jalan Lada Puteh, cross Nutmeg Road and you come to this staircase – an alternative pedestrian exit/entrance!But, oh dear, that’s pretty steep! (See what I mean about the sloping nature of this area?) It may not be accessible to everyone, especially senior citizens or children in prams.Luckily, as we walk towards Jalan Jintan, we see another entrance/exit.
This time into Scotts – which obviously has escalators and elevators inside! Plus, it doesn’t involve any climbing of stairs! It would make life really convenient for elderly residents of the area, as they can easily get to Orchard Road here.
(Perfect for those who don’t have a large social circle as they can while their time away window shopping or sitting at a cafe, whilst waiting for younger family members to get home from school or work. Moreover, seniors who used to drive and then have to stop after a certain age, would certainly enjoy how independent and mobile they can be here. Obviously, HDB estates also offer easy access to many amenities, but most landed estates tend to be quite inaccessible without a car, and getting a taxi all the time isn’t always an option for everyone.)
I’ll just quickly take you down the walkway so you can see for yourself. View to the side of the walkway. Grand Hyatt is currently being renovated so that would account for the many large lorries I saw in the area!Looking back at the houses – they’re really close!
Oh and before I forget, for anyone concerned about noise and dust from the Grand Hyatt renovation, it’s supposed to finish in Q1 2023. (So it should be done now but I couldn’t find news about the reopening, and the last time I was there a few weeks ago, it was still under renovation.)
We eventually come to a door to the mall.The Mall looks rather quiet, but keep in mind this is the upper level, which is usually less busy.Oh. Oh dear, well actually the entire mall looks quiet! (That can be nice though, as long as it provides all the shops you need!)If not, there’s always the rest of Orchard Road, which should need no introduction if you’re reading an article about Singapore property! Now let’s head to the last road in the estate, Jalan Jintan. This yellow wall on the right belongs to the house in the feature image of this article, so it actually has 2 entrances into the property – pretty handy!Here we find some apartment blocks at Kim Sia Court too! I personally wouldn’t mind living in one of these, if the building didn’t have any serious age-related issues.
Note: there were some for sale at the time of writing but one also mentioned that an en bloc committee had already been formed so keep in mind that, if you buy a house here, a major construction project might be happening at your doorstep if an en bloc goes ahead!
Looking down the Jalan Jintan, the longest road of the 3. (Jalan Kayu Manis is the shortest.)The apartment does have lots of empty land – you can see through to the buildings behind! So I can see why some people think an en bloc might happen.Hey, there’s a co-living house here! If you want to “try before you buy”, you could always rent a room here! (Minimum rental length is 3 months I believe.)More photos of Jalan Jintan – the left of the road is apartments and the right is landed houses. (If you’re wondering, no, unfortunately, the landed houses currently do not have high plot ratios to allow conversion into tall apartment blocks.)Another look into the Kim Sia Court.One thing I forgot to highlight is that the pavements here have a decent width. (Some estates have ones so narrow, it’s pretty much impossible to walk on them!)Interesting architecture – and congratulations to Faith, whoever you are!The land here is pretty uphill. I wondered if the end of the roads provided a shortcut to another part of Orchard Road but, nope, only a wire fence. The bright side is, we’re on higher ground.Walking back out to Orchard Road, we do see some bigger properties, for those who need the space and have the $$$.The construction site I mentioned (this is just next to/behind Jalan Jintan). I assumed it belonged to Grand Hyatt but may be wrong. (The Masterplan does indicate that the land belongs to Hyatt though…)The heavy vehicles plying Nutmeg Road that I mentioned.
Now that we’ve come to the end of the tour, what did you think?
I actually assumed that, given that we are in Orchard Road, there would be no Primary Schools nearby but according to yoursingaporemap, ACS (Junior) is actually within 1 km! Personally, I wasn’t that keen on this area before I did the walkabout but seeing the entrance into Scotts changed my mind (not that I have the budget!) Funny how small things can make properties look more or less attractive to you, no?
Let me know what you thought of the area as well as what some of your dealbreakers/dealmakers are!
TJ’s interest in property was sparked after returning from the UK- where balconies are not counted in one’s square footage!- and finding that the Singapore property had totally changed in the 7 years she was away. When not reading and watching articles & videos about property, she is busy cooking and baking for friends, family & her blog Greedygirlgourmet
TJ
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