Chip Eng Seng buys Westpeak for $206m
Metropole Hotel also changes hands; Hilton Towers’ sale confirmed
CONSTRUCTION and property group Chip Eng Seng has clinched its second collective-sale site this month - Westpeak Condominium.
Its purchase price of $206.09 million reflects a unit land price of $348 per square foot (psf) of potential gross floor area inclusive of an estimated development charge of $21.5 million.
Westpeak has a site area of 311,829 sq ft, making it the biggest freehold collective property in terms of land area to be transacted in recent years.
If Chip Eng Seng decides to buy an adjoining state plot of 50,450 sq ft for an estimated $14.3 million, its unit land price will fall to $318 psf per plot ratio, according to Valuers & Property Consultants (S) Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Savills Singapore which brokered the sale of Westpeak.
The site is zoned for residential use with a 2.1 plot ratio - the ratio of potential maximum gross floor area to land area - and has a height limit of 24 storeys.
Savills estimates that Chip Eng Seng’s breakeven cost will be below $550 psf and it should be able to market its new condo on the site for about $600-$650 psf.
Chip Eng Seng said yesterday it can redevelop the site into a new project with about 545 units averaging 1,200 sq ft.
It will finance Westpeak’s purchase from internal sources and through bank borrowings.
Earlier this month, Chip Eng Seng bought Venus Mansion at Peck Hay Road in the Cairnhill area for $123 million or $785 psf per plot ratio (ppr).
Analysts reckon that Chip Eng Seng may either announce joint venture partners for the projects or do an equity raising to help fund the acquisition costs of the sites.
A possible partner is a Lehman Brothers fund that recently partnered Chip Eng Seng in its unsuccessful bid for a 99-year leasehold condominium site near Tanah Merah MRT Station, market watchers suggest.
The tender for Westpeak, which closed this week, also attracted bids from Far East Organization and Frasers Centrepoint, sources say.
Other property deals this week include the $18 million sale of Metropole Hotel at Seah Street in the Beach Road area to Surya Jhunjhnuwala, a member of the family that once controlled Hind Hotels, which owned the former Imperial Hotel at Jalan Rumbia.
The Metropole Hotel deal was brokered by Lee Hon Kiun of Landmark Property Advisors.
Mr Jhunjhnuwala plans to refurbish the hotel and convert the second and third floors, which are now used as food and beverage outlets, into additional hotel rooms. Metropole Hotel now has 54 hotel rooms. The property has a 999-year leasehold tenure.
The seller is Metropole Hotel Pte Ltd, controlled by members of a Lee family.
Also, Koh Brothers and Heeton have teamed up to buy Hilton Towers at Leonie Hill for $79.2 million or $880 psf ppr including development charges. They intend to redevelop the site into an 80-unit luxury apartment project.
Colliers International brokered the collective sale of the freehold Hilton Towers.
Source : Business Times - 29 Apr 2006
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