Chip Bee Gardens: Over 300 rental terraced houses by SLA!

I’ve always loved the Chip Bee enclave of houses near Holland Village but assumed that they were all government-owned properties. One day, I was surfing the property portals and found a house in the area for sale!

Apparently, not all the properties (in the area) are government-owned, and a very small number can be privately owned. They’re not cheap but I thought that it was worth featuring the estate as there may be others suffering from the same misconception as myself!

Chip Bee Gardens

The private housing in the area appears to be around Jalan Hitam Manis and Jalan Merah Saga. I don’t count the ones on Holland Road though they’re pretty close by too. (Noisy, I’d imagine, given that Holland Road is a major one!)

Chip Bee Gardens Terraced House

These are the government-owned terrace houses that were built in the 1960s. There are 349 units as well as 40 apartments and 20 retail shops for rent from the SLA.

Indeed, the retail shops at Chip Bee Gardens are part of what makes the area so desirable.

Noisy Café & Restaurant Traffic

Some of the government-owned apartments are above the shops and, unfortunately, not very quiet. So, if you’re looking to rent an apartment above the shops, make sure you view it at peak hours before committing!

Restaurant Patrons Parking Outside Houses

The fact that the shops and eateries there are so in-demand means that people will be parking outside your house! There are also URA lots outside the private houses, but these are slightly further from the commercial units so when I visited, there were much fewer cars parked in those lots.

Sloping Terrain

Some houses are on slightly higher ground. Note how some houses have a driveway that slopes up whilst others have a flat driveway. And if you compare the roofs, you can see that some are higher!

SLA Terrace Houses have 2 floors

If you may have noticed, most of the government-owned houses are 2-storey terrace units with a uniform look, give or take some alterations.

Private Landed Houses

The private properties are much bigger than the government-owned ones. Some of the privately-owned houses are rebuilt while some are still in the older 2-storey condition.

Located next to Buona Vista HDB estate

If you looked closely at the area map that I attached earlier on, you would have noticed that Chip Bee Gardens is next to an HDB estate and we can see part of it right in the upper right corner. It’s actually bounded by the HDB blocks, Holland Village, Holland Road and Holland Hill.

Thanks to Holland Hill, although Chip Bee is quite near Queensway and Farrer Road, 2 super busy roads, we don’t hear the traffic from those 2 roads within the estate.

In the HDB estate, you can find a Community Library, a Seniors Activity Centre, the usual childcare centres, coffee shops, a futsal court, a beauty spa and more.

Cross the road to the Holland Village side and you can find Buona Vista Community Centre, a music school, more eateries and Buona Vista Bus Terminal. If you trek through all this (about 13 minutes walk), you will also reach the Rail Corridor, so nature is not too far away.

Uniformed Look to the Estate

One benefit of living next to the government-owned enclave is that the estate has a more uniformed look. This may seem like a small detail but I know of people who wouldn’t buy a terrace house because they find the assorted facades give the area a “messy” look.

Jalan Hitam Manis Terrace Houses Price

If your budget runs more towards a terrace unit, no fear, there is a row of private terrace houses along Jalan Hitam Manis too. 

When I look specifically for sales along Jalan Hitam Manis, more transactions show up! I can’t believe houses used to go for 1 million in 2005!

Global Tots Preschool

One of the properties is a Global Tots preschool. (1 Jalan Hitam Manis.)

ACS International School

Pass Global Tots and the terrace houses and you reach ACS International. 

Now this isn’t the widest of streets, but the area gets congested with the before and after school traffic. According to a previous letter issued by the school, residents have complained about the pickup congestion.

ACS School in your backyard

Now having an ACS in your backyard is usually considered a big plus – just look at all the news articles about the moving of ACS Primary from Newton to Tengah – but, unfortunately, given that this is an ACS International, I’m not sure it has the same booster effect on property prices?

Moreover, much as it pains me to say this, the school doesn’t appear to have the best reviews!

Taman Warna

Back to the subject on hand: there are 2 ways to drive in and out of the estate. The first is by way of Taman Warna and Holland Avenue, whilst the second is by way of Taman Warna and Holland Road. Taman Warna is a 2-way road.

Orchard to Chip Bee Gardens

If you were returning from Orchard Road, this is the road you would be taking. It’s quite a busy road so it can be a bit difficult to turn out, especially with the big tree blocking the sight of on-coming traffic!

The bus stop is slightly behind the tree. You can find 7, 48, 75, 77, 106 and 165 there.

Looking in the other direction – this way leads to Holland Village. If you forget to turn into Taman Warna, you can drive down this way and turn in via Holland Avenue. 

Raffles Holland V

This is where you would turn in. The building is Raffles Holland V and there are a few shops as well as a NTUC Finest in it.

Inside Raffles V, you can find a few restaurants, a gym, a DBS, and a doctor….but generally, the mall is rather quiet until dining hours or the weekends. The mall also has a small basement car park, and an outdoor carpark next door that's always crowded.

We’ve more or less seen what Raffles V has to offer, so let’s head across Holland Avenue and check out Holland Village.

Holland Road Shopping Centre

Chip Bee Gardens to the left, HDB estate in front and Holland Road Shopping Centre to the right. There are a few independent shops inside, a LIM's Furniture, some salons, a Cold Storage CS Fresh, etc.

Holland Road Shopping Centre's basement carpark is steep and limited, so visitors may spill over to the Chip Bee Gardens side to park.

I may be generalising but the shops here seem to cater more to expats than to Singaporeans. What do you think? 

Holland Village MRT Station

That’s the MRT station on the right by the way. As you know, landed estates can be pretty inaccessible without a car, so this MRT station makes life much easier for residents of Chip Bee Gardens!

That brings me to another point. Many people like Chip Bee Gardens and the surrounding Holland Village area for its slightly eclectic nature, with its low-density living and range of independent shops and restaurants. So distinct, the government designated it as an “identity node” in 2013.

However, with the construction of the new condominiums, and the increased number of residents flooding into the area, who knows what it will look like in the future? Whether it improves for the better, or changes to become less charming, only time will tell as a lot will depend on the execution of the plans.

Holland Village Market & Food Centre

A closer look at the market and hawker centre. I must point out that you don’t get a massive number of stalls here but it’s sufficient to mitigate any hawker food cravings.

We’ve now come to the end of today’s landed tour. How did you find Chip Bee Gardens? Personally, I’ve always been drawn to the houses at Chip Bee (but the rent is much too high for me to afford these days, let alone buy a house here!)

URA Masterplan for Holland Village

Before I go, I must leave you with this screenshot of the Masterplan for the area, as it indicates that some of the lands on which the government-owned terrace houses sit have been zoned 1.6, so it may be redeveloped into higher-rise apartments in the future, something that would certainly change the atmosphere of the neighbourhood.

As you can see above, there are only 2 rows of private landed houses in Chip Bee. Some of the private houses along Jalan Merah Saga may actually benefit from redevelopment as they seem to have a plot ratio of 1.4 so could potentially be developed into tiny boutique condos, in the absence of further restrictions.

Moreover, given that there are only 2 vehicular exits and entrances into the landed enclave PLUS a school, I do wonder if that will make the roads a good deal more congested. What do you think?