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Price works out to $550 psf ppr, inclusive of charges, premium

MCL Land has bought the freehold Waterfall Gardens in Farrer Road and two smaller adjoining sites for $131.75 million. The price works out to $550 per square foot of potential gross floor area inclusive of development charges and a development premium payable to the state to maximise the site’s redevelopment potential.

MCL Land’s breakeven cost for a new 12-storey condo could be about $800 to $850 psf. The total land area is 160,932 sq ft.

The group is buying the property through an en bloc deal from its owner Farfor Investments, controlled by members of a family with Indonesian and Hongkong connections, although some family members are now Singapore citizens.

The family members go by two surnames - Tan and Lim.

This is the same family that developed the Shearesville project in Holt Road and bought one block of Cuscaden Residences for $1,028 psf in early 1999 from Hotel Properties - and later sold it to the Hong Leong Group and Japan’s Mitsui group for $1,380 psf in August 2000.

Waterfall Gardens was sold through a private tender handled by DTZ Debenham Tie Leung. It closed late last month and attracted a handful of bids. Farfor’s offer was the highest.

Farfor originally bought Waterfall Gardens, with a site area of 138,016 sq ft, in 1999 for $102 million. It later bought a remnant strip of private land next door for a couple of million dollars, sources say. And it recently purchased an adjoining state site of 20,602 sq ft for about $7 million.

These three parcels, involved in the latest sale to MCL Land, add up to 160,932 sq ft. The site is zoned residential with a 1.6 plot ratio - ratio of potential gross floor area to land area - and has a 12-storey height restriction.

MCL Land could build about 200 units averaging 1,800 sq ft each and is expected to get the project launch-ready by the fourth quarter of this year.

This weekend MCL is officially launching its Esta freehold condo in Katong. It has sold about 250 units in the 21-storey development since last month and is expected to raise the average price from $700 psf to $710 psf. Another MCL project that is expected to hit the market later this year is an exclusive low-rise condo comprising fewer than 50 units in Fernhill Road.

For Waterfall marketing agent DTZ, this is the second major investment sale deal it has announced in as many days. It also handled the $120 million collective sale of Angullia Mansion to Far East Organization.

Source : Business Times - 9 Feb 2006