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A COMMITTED bid of $60.888 million has been received for a hotel site on the Government Land Sales (GLS) reserve list at Tanjong Pagar Road/Tras Street. The site will now be put up for public tender in about two weeks’ time.

Based on the committed bid price, the 30,844 sq ft site, which has a plot ratio of 5.6 and a maximum gross floor area (GFA) of 172,728 sq ft, works out to cost $352.5 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).

Knight Frank head of research Nicholas Mak believes that the site could eventually fetch around $500 psf ppr.

The site is close to the Tanjong Pagar MRT station as well as office buildings like Capital Tower, Temasek Tower and Springleaf Tower. ‘A new hotel here will probably cater to cost-conscious business travellers and mid-tier tourists,’ Mr Mak said. The hotel could also be positioned as a four-star hotel with about 300 rooms.

Mr Mak said that the committed bid price appeared to be in line with those for other sites that have been put up for public tender recently. This is the second hotel site on the reserve list to be put up for tender this year. The first was in Tanjong Pagar Road/Gopeng Street last month, when the trigger price was $370 psf ppr.

In the West Coast, the Urban Redevelopment Authority has put a residential site at West Coast Crescent on the GLS reserve list.

The 129,166.8 sq ft site has a plot ratio of 2.8 and a maximum GFA of 361,667 sq ft. URA estimates that a development with 290 units can be built.

Colliers International director for investment sales Ho Eng Joo reckons the site could receive bids of $260 to $290 psf ppr. The break-even cost for the new development is likely to be around $600-$630 psf, depending on the cost of materials, he said.

The West Coast, particularly areas close to educational institutions like the National University of Singapore, has seen an influx of developments including Varsity Park and more recently Carabelle. Blue Horizon, which is next to the new site and was launched several years ago, is now selling for over $600 psf on the secondary market.

Source : Business Times - 27 Apr 2007

SIMEFIELD Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of niche property developer Sin Heng Chan, has bought a mixed landed residential site at Watten Rise for $80.8 million - a new benchmark of $872 per sq ft.

The strata-title development, comprising 52 units at 20-44 Watten Rise, was put up for sale through an expression-of-interest exercise last month.

The en bloc sale was handled by collective sale specialists Credo Real Estate. The exercise closed on Tuesday and attracted 16 submissions from developers, said Credo executive director Tan Hong Boon.

Under the 2003 Master Plan, the site is zoned for two-storey mixed landed houses. Sin Heng Chan can choose to build a combination of conventional terraced, semi detached and detached houses, as well as strata terraces, strata semi-detached houses and strata bungalows.

Sin Heng Chan was among the first to venture into strata landed housing with the award-winning Gilstead Brooks at Gilstead Road in 2002. Its subsequent projects include Barker Terraces and three detached bungalows in Victoria Park. It is currently promoting two Good Class Bungalows at Leedon Road and Belmont Road.

The Watten Rise site has a land area of 92,628 sq ft. It is near several schools including Raffles Girls’ Primary School, Nanyang Primary School and Hwa Chong Institution.

 Source : Business Times - 27 Apr 2007

Site at junction of Victoria St and Jln Sultan can be developed into 400-450 room hotel

The Urban Redevelopment Authority has put another hotel development site on the Government Land Sales reserve list. The move comes on the back of a strong performance by the hotel sector, based on the latest Singapore Tourism Board figures.

STB revealed that hotels here generated $162.1 million of room revenue in March - 28 per cent more than a year earlier and the highest monthly figure since 1995.

The average room rate increased 24.5 per cent in March from a year earlier to a record $194, surpassing the previous high in September last year.

The average occupancy rate was 91 per cent in March, up 2.9 per cent from March 2006.

As such, demand for new hotel sites is expected to be high. The latest site on the reserve list is at the junction of Victoria Street and Jalan Sultan. The 73,424.9 square foot site has a plot ratio of 4.5 and a maximum gross floor area of 330,408.7 sq ft.

Savills Singapore director of investments Steven Ming reckons that the land could be worth $500-550 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr). In November 2006, the Hong Leong Group paid $520 psf ppr for a site in Mohamed Sultan Road.

There are now six hotel sites on the reserve list. There is also one site in Tanjong Pagar that is already open for tender. Apart from these, there are sites on the confirmed list with a hotel component, and more sites on the reserve list coming up later this year.

Mr Ming believes that there should be demand for the sites. ‘We do not think that there are too many hotel sites given the current high average occupancy rate and expected strong growth in the number of tourist arrivals to Singapore,’ he said.

Savills estimates that a 400-450 room hotel is feasible on the latest site, with the cost of each room coming in around $350,000-400,000. ‘This is on the assumption that the winning developer builds a 4-star hotel on the site,’ Mr Ming said.

Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels executive vice-president Chee Hok Yean also thinks a 450-room hotel is likely.

On the supply of hotel rooms, Ms Chee said: ‘Sites released now will take three years before the hotel will be completed and this is in line to meet the expected increase in tourist arrivals.’

Going by STB’s figures, visitor numbers are growing. In March, Singapore welcomed 835,000 visitors, a 1.9 per cent increase from a year earlier and a record for the month.

Source : Business Times - 26 Apr 2007

Asking price beats that of Grangeford Apartments, set earlier this week

Asking prices for land in the prime districts continued their dizzying climb, as Elizabeth Heights, a freehold development in the Cairnhill area, was released for sale yesterday - with a price tag of as high as $2,100 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).

Elizabeth Heights

The price topped that set by the 99-year leasehold Grangeford Apartments earlier this week. Grangeford comes with a whopping $660 million ‘guide price’ - more than double the $280 million bandied about in October last year. This works out to $2,016 psf ppr, including an estimated $97.8 million any developer will have to pay the state to restore the site’s remaining 66-year lease to 99 years.

Grangeford’s asking price of $2,016 psf ppr was the highest until Elizabeth Heights came along.

‘We expect to receive offers in the region of $570 million to $600 million, reflecting a land rate of about $2,000 to $2,100 psf ppr,’ said Karamjit Singh, managing director of Credo Real Estate, which is seeking expressions of interest for the site.

Elizabeth Heights has a land area of 88,600 sq ft and comes with a 2.8 plot ratio, but any buyer may redevelop the site up to its existing gross floor area of 285,000 sq ft, said Credo. No development charges should be payable, the property firm added.

An estimated 136 units with an average size of 2,000 sq ft each can be built on the site.

Credo executive director Yong Choon Fah said that the asking price was not too high, and that it was comparable with that asked by Grangeford, which is used as a benchmark.

In addition, Elizabeth Heights is unique in that it falls within a small stretch of properties along Cairnhill Road on which a 36-storey development may be allowed, Mr Singh said. He added that most of the other sites in Cairnhill and Scotts Road have a height control of up to 20 storeys.

‘Home buyers are willing to pay a significant premium for luxury homes on high floors with good views,’ said Mr Singh. ‘As the new development on this site may overlook its surroundings with its 36-storey potential, we believe this advantage would help support a land rate of at least $2,000 psf ppr.’

At present, Elizabeth Heights comprises 84 maisonettes and six penthouses. Some 71.2 per cent of the owners by share value have consented to the collective sale. A minimum of 80 per cent is needed before any sale can go through.

If the price of $600 million is achieved, maisonette owners will each receive $6.2-6.4 million, while penthouse owners will get at least $11.1 million each. These prices are about 40-50 per cent above market values, said Credo.

The expressions of interest exercise will close on May 25 at 2.30 pm.

Source : Business Times - 26 Apr 2007

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is calling for bids for a reserve site along Rochor Canal earmarked for hotel development.

Located at the junction of Victoria Street and Jalan Sultan, the 99-year leasehold land parcel has a maximum permissible gross floor area of about 30,696 square metres, the URA said yesterday.

The site, near Lavender MRT station, measures 0.68 hectares and has a gross plot ratio of 4.5.

“Its dual frontage along the major thoroughfares creates an opportunity for a distinctive hotel development,” said the Government agency.

The maximum building height permitted for the new hotel would be a part four-storey and part 25-storey building that does not exceed 153 metres.

Under the reserve list system, a site would be put up for tender only if a developer’s indicated minimum bid price is acceptable to the Government.

The Victoria Street land parcel is one of three new hotel sites listed in the Government Land Sales Programme for the first half of this year.

Last week saw a New Bridge Road site put up for application, while another hotel site at the junction of Victoria Street and Jellicoe Road will be made available next month.

Source : Today - 26 Apr 2007