ARC 380
Freehold strata office and retail landmark at the Jalan Besar–Lavender junction
Street-level view of ARC 380, 380 Jalan Besar. Imagery: Google Street View (user-contributed imagery), accessed August 2026.
Project Overview
Location & Connectivity
ARC 380 sits at the highly visible junction of Jalan Besar and Lavender Street in District 8, a fringe-CBD pocket that has quietly become one of Singapore’s more resilient commercial micro-markets. The building’s curved glass form is hard to miss from either approach road, and its position places it within a short walk of Little India, Farrer Park and the Kallang Basin precinct, giving tenants a working address that reads as central without carrying prime-CBD rents.
Connectivity is a genuine strength of the address. Bendemeer MRT station on the Downtown Line is roughly a five-minute walk away, while Farrer Park (North East Line), Boon Keng and Lavender stations are all within a two-minute drive, giving occupiers four stations across two lines within easy reach. Motorists benefit from quick access to both the Central Expressway and the Pan-Island Expressway, which puts the Central Business District, Marina Bay and the eastern corridor within a short and predictable drive.
The immediate surrounds mix everyday amenities with institutional anchors. City Square Mall, Aperia Mall and Jalan Besar Plaza cover retail and dining needs, while Fairprice, Cold Storage and Don Don Donki handle daily groceries. The nearby Connexion medical hub and the broader Kallang Basin sports precinct add further daytime and evening footfall that benefits ground-floor F&B and retail units.
Location of ARC 380. Map data: Google Maps, accessed August 2026.
Building & Facilities
Completed in 2018 by Tong Eng Group, ARC 380 rises 16 storeys in a distinctive curved-glass form that earned it recognition at the 2019 FIABCI Singapore and Asia Property Awards. The tower’s curtain wall uses heat-strengthened, low-emissivity double-glazed glass, which keeps solar heat gain and street noise down while maximising daylight across the column-free, regular office floor plates — a specification that reads as genuinely above-average for a strata building of this vintage.
Communal facilities are generous for a strata commercial asset. Cantilevered sky terraces sit on every office floor, offering informal breakout space with panoramic views owing to the building’s arc-shaped massing. A fourth-storey sky terrace adds barbecue facilities, and the rooftop houses a swimming pool and gym — amenities more common to premium office campuses than mid-sized strata buildings. At ground level, a basement food court and retail frontage along both entrances give the building genuine round-the-clock activity.
Buyers should still conduct standard due diligence before committing: verify the current MCST budget and sinking fund position, confirm the permitted use schedule against URA’s approved use, and check car park entitlement, since the building’s ≈82 lots are shared across 167 strata units and can constrain occupiers expecting dedicated parking.
Unit Types & Floor Plan Notes
ARC 380 offers a genuinely mixed unit stack across 144 office units and 23 retail/F&B units, spanning small entry-level quantums through to full-floor office plates. The four profiles below reflect the range most frequently seen in resale and rental listings.
≈312 – 450 sqft
Ground-floor shop and kiosk-format units suited to specialty F&B, beauty or convenience retail, benefiting from direct frontage at either the Jalan Besar or Lavender Street entrance.
≈700 – 1,033 sqft
Larger ground-level or basement food court-adjacent units, well suited to full restaurant operations, clinics or larger-format retail requiring back-of-house space.
≈700 – 1,000 sqft
The most liquid office quantum in the building, column-free with full-height glazing, typically taken up by small professional practices, tech teams and boutique agencies.
≈9,500 sqft
Whole-floor plates on the higher levels, offering regular column-free layouts and sky terrace access — suited to corporate occupiers or investors seeking a single large tenant.
Investment Case
ARC 380’s investment case rests substantially on its tenure and zoning. As a freehold, purely commercial-zoned asset, it sits outside the residential cooling-measure framework entirely, which meaningfully simplifies the ownership calculus for both local and foreign buyers.
What Works
- Freehold tenure is genuinely scarce for fringe-CBD commercial stock, supporting long-term capital preservation.
- No ABSD, no SSD and no foreign ownership restrictions, keeping entry and exit costs efficient.
- Above-average building specification — sky terraces, rooftop pool and gym — for a strata commercial asset.
- Strong multi-line MRT access via Bendemeer and Farrer Park, plus quick CTE/PIE reach.
- Diversified income base across office, F&B and retail reduces single-sector vacancy risk.
What to Weigh Carefully
- Strata car park supply is limited relative to unit count, which can affect tenant appeal for some businesses.
- MCST fees and any future sinking fund calls should be verified directly rather than assumed.
- Fringe-CBD commercial rents remain more rate-sensitive than prime CBD grade-A stock in a downturn.
- Resale liquidity for larger full-floor quantums is thinner than for the compact office and retail units.
- Being a young freehold strata building, en-bloc consolidation is not a realistic near-term catalyst.
Who This Suits
ARC 380 is best suited to owner-occupier SMEs and professional practices that want a freehold, fringe-CBD address without prime-CBD pricing, and to investors seeking a diversified, cooling-measure-free commercial holding. Smaller compact office and retail/F&B units offer the most accessible entry quantum and the deepest resale and leasing pool, while full-floor plates suit corporate occupiers or investors comfortable underwriting a single-tenant strategy. Foreign investors in particular may find the combination of freehold tenure, zero ABSD/SSD exposure and no ownership restrictions a meaningfully simpler proposition than a residential purchase.