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It bid $32.99m or $226 psf ppr for the office site

DB&B subsidiary Sun Venture Investments has been awarded a transitional office site at Scotts Road after emerging as the highest bidder last week.

Its bid of $32.99 million or $226 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) for the 97,284.1 sq ft site was 3 per cent higher than the next highest bid received by the Urban Redevelopment Authority in the public tender.

DB&B develops and manages property assets and its CEO Billy Siew Kim Leng revealed that the overall construction costs could be in the region of $35 million, taking the overall development cost to about $68 million, including land cost.

The project, which has a maximum permissible gross floor area of 145,926.2 sq ft, will be partially funded through bank loans but even in the light of tightening credit markets, ‘funding will not be an issue’, Mr Siew said. This is probably because of the positive response from potential tenants.

Mr Siew had said last week that DB&B was in talks with two potential anchor tenants when it first ventured to bid for the site. However, since emerging as the top bidder, DB&B has received between eight and 10 expressions of interest, he said.

And the asking rent of $9.50 psf a month has apparently not put potential tenants off either, even though the first transitional office building being leased by Prudential Assurance Company Singapore on the other side of Scotts Road is being leased for $6.50 psf a month.

Mr Siew explained that as a built-to-suit office space provider, the office building will come fully fitted with raised floors, back-up generator and, more importantly, interior fittings, representing a cost savings for the future tenants.

The completion date is set for mid-2009.

Source : Business Times - 07 May 2008