The Toh Crescent resort home and garden an agronomist spent nearly two decades nurturing, now asking $12 mil

CS and Michelle Liew have lived in Toh Estate, in the Changi and Loyang area of District 17, since 1994. “We know the area well,” says Michelle.

For CS, who spent up to 70% of his working life travelling, proximity to Changi Airport was a significant advantage.

When the family grew to include three young sons, the Liews decided they needed a bigger home. But they wanted to stay within Toh Estate. “I love the serenity of the East Coast, especially Toh Estate,” says CS, a Singaporean. “Toh Crescent is very serene and very green.”

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While househunting in the early 2000s, they came across a plot along Toh Crescent, a street with predominantly detached houses. An old, single-storey bungalow sat on the freehold site of about 9,652 sq ft. CS was intrigued by the weed-covered house and, more importantly, the terrain of the land. He had even envisioned what the new house would look like once the old one was torn down.

“It was a beautiful piece of land,” he says. “There was a slope coming down, and I said to Michelle, ‘We should keep it as it is; we shouldn’t flatten it.’”

They called the property agent whose number was on the “For Sale” sign at the gate. When they could not reach him, Michelle contacted another agent, who in turn got in touch with the owners.

Back in 2005, the asking price was $2.3 million. Recognising that the owners were from Hong Kong, CS offered $2.28 million, as the figure sounded auspicious in Cantonese. The wife called her husband in Hong Kong, and they sealed the deal on the spot.

They appointed architect KC Kan & Associates to design their new home. “We had seen a property he had designed which had the kind of tropical feel that we liked,” says Michelle.

A home with the garden and pool as a focal point

From the start, the couple made it clear they did not just want to build a house. “We wanted a home that made the most of the garden and natural lighting, with the pool being the focal point,” she adds.

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She wanted the home to be a private retreat for the family. The couple personally selected the materials, finishes and fittings. “We wanted something timeless,” she says — a choice that has served them well.

Completed 1.5 to two years later, the new home is a two-storey detached house with a basement that fits three to four cars, and a built-up area of about 5,136 sq ft. Keeping the original sloping terrain paid off: the basement sits at street level, while the pool deck is raised on the first level, overlooking the garden.

The upper level of the L-shaped house has five en suite bedrooms and a family room. The master bedroom has a private balcony that adjoins a jacuzzi pool deck, a walk-in wardrobe and a resort-style bathroom. Each son had his own en suite bedroom. A corner room with an en suite balcony and garden views became CS’ home office.

On the first level are a living room, a bar, an indoor dining room and an open kitchen. However, most of the time, the family prefers to dine at the alfresco dining area next to the pool deck, which overlooks the pool and the garden. It is also where people tend to congregate when they entertain at home.

“The house lends itself to entertaining,” says Michelle. “It’s easy to move between the outdoor and indoor spaces, making it perfect for having drinks at the bar and dining on the pool deck.”

The first level also has a home cinema, a guest suite with an outdoor deck, and a room that serves as Michelle’s office. A helper’s room with an en suite bathroom sits at the back of the house.

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As the house was well-built, they have not had to make any changes in close to two decades, notes CS.

Favourite spots

Michelle’s favourite part of the home is the balcony overlooking the garden and the surrounding greenery, where she keeps an exercise bike and a yoga mat. “It’s such a treat to exercise surrounded by greenery,” she says. “I also love the way the house looks towards the pool and the garden.”

CS’ favourite spot is the pair of lounge seats on the pool deck, facing the pool and the garden below. He loves sitting there after work to enjoy the sunset, watching the sunlight streaming through the tree canopy.

“I used to always sit there to read magazines, newspapers, or just gaze at the pool,” he says. When it rains, he especially likes watching the raindrops falling into the pool.

‘A passionate gardener’

The garden is CS’ creation. “He is a passionate gardener, and it has been his pride and joy since we moved in,” says Michelle. “He has continued to develop it over the years.”

It has some unusual plants and regularly attracts hornbills. An old chiku tree, already on the land when they bought it, has been carefully preserved.

Armed with a double degree in agronomy and pest management, CS knows that a flourishing garden depends on understanding plant nutrition and which fertilisers to apply. “You often run into nutritional problems, micronutrient deficiencies,” he says. Knowing the symptoms and remedies is essential.

Understanding pests and diseases, and which fungicides and insecticides to apply, is equally important. “That knowledge becomes very useful in the maintenance of a garden,” he says.

His expertise was built over a career in crop protection that took him around the world, and the garden bears its marks.

After graduating from Iowa State University, CS joined Ciba-Geigy in Malaysia. A year later, US-based crop protection company Uniroyal Chemical recruited him in Singapore to oversee its entire Asia Pacific market — from China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea to India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and on to Australia and New Zealand. He was only 23.

After 11 years with Uniroyal, he spent seven years with Nufarm before starting his own firm, Pacific Agriscience, in 1998. “In the early years of Pacific Agriscience, we were basically trading in generic pesticides that we sourced from India and China, and we sold those all over the world,” he says.

Travel souvenirs

Wherever his work took him, if he came across an interesting plant or flower, he would buy a pot or take a cutting home to plant in his garden.

Fruit trees and edible plants in the garden include papayas and sugarcane from Thailand, along with edible bananas, pineapples and purple chillies from across Southeast Asia.

His favourite transplant is the “100 hands banana”, grown from two seedlings he brought back from Chatuchak Market in Bangkok 18 years ago. One bunch grew to 2.5m long. “That was an all-time record,” he says.

The trees became a talking point for the foreign dignitaries, ambassadors and business associates he frequently entertained at home. These associates would give CS samples of new plant nutritional products, fertilisers and pesticides, which he would trial in the garden. “I like to experiment with them,” he says.

CS finds gardening “very therapeutic” and “a real joy” — from trimming old leaves and branches to watching new plants and flowers grow.

Just as his garden has evolved over the decades, so has his business. Drawing on the network he has built over his career, CS has reinvented himself over the past 15 years. From trading in pesticides in the early years, the business has moved into mergers and acquisitions, helping start-ups raise capital and find global partners.

Now semi-retired, CS still travels frequently. Over his 46 years of work, he has paused his travelling only twice: six months during SARS in 2003, and about 18 months during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

New chapter

With three sons now grown up — two working in London, and the eldest married and living in Singapore — CS and Michelle find the house too large for just the two of them. That prompted their decision to sell the property.

“We feel it’s the right time,” says Michelle. “It’s been a wonderful family home, but our lives have changed, and we’re ready for a new chapter.”

They have appointed Gavan Lee, principal head of district at PropNex Eminence Landed, as the exclusive marketing agent. Lee is indicating a guide price of about $12 million for the home. Based on the site area of 9,652 sq ft, the land rate works out to $1,243 psf.

As the property is well-maintained, Lee expects the new owner would need to undertake only minor renovations. “The property appeals to those who want a resort lifestyle,” he says.

Now that the house will be sold, Michelle says what she will miss most is “the feeling of being away from everything”. That feeling was strongest during the pandemic, when the family gained a renewed appreciation for their home. “When so much of the world was restricted, I realised how fortunate we were to have created a home where we could swim, exercise, enjoy the garden, dine outdoors — it really was a sanctuary.”

The garden is “definitely” something CS will miss, and he hopes it will go to the right owner. “Being an agronomist and agriculturist, of course I love plants, and I love my garden. I hope the garden will stay.”

His biggest fear is that the new owner will tear up the garden, or pave or tile over it. “In fact, I told Michelle if the new owner needs me to look after the garden, I’ll be very happy to do so because I know all the plants in the garden,” he says. “I planted them, each and every one of them.”

Property Diaries is a new series that goes behind the scenes of real estate transactions, featuring homebuyers, investors, renters and sellers sharing their journeys, decisions and lessons learnt.

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