By Kalpana Rashiwala

The historic House of Tan Yeok Nee, a gazetted national monument, is in the process of being sold, BT understands.

An option is said to have been issued this week for the sale of the two-storey freehold property at the corner of Penang Road and Clemenceau Avenue at slightly over $60 million.

The property, which has a strata area of about 58,000 square feet, is leased to The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. German fund manager Union Investment Real Estate AG is said to be selling the asset to private commercial-school operator ERC Holdings.

Chicago Booth - which has occupied The House of Tan Yeok Nee since it was restored in 2000 - is likely to continue leasing the space for a few years.

Savills is understood to have brokered the property's sale by private treaty.

The House of Tan Yeok Nee is named after a wealthy Teochew businessman who built it in the 1880s.

The Salvation Army bought the property before World War II but it was soon occupied by the invading Japanese army.

When the war ended in 1945, Salvation Army moved back into the property, which remained as its headquarters until it sold the premises in 1991 to the late Teo Lay Swee.