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IN a further sign of the recovering property market, the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) successful public auction of 11 parcels of unrestored conservation shophouses yesterday not only drew strong bidding, but the prices fetched were also higher than those in the last auction in May 2005.

The highest price per square metre (psm) then was $4,735.06. Yesterday, the top price was $6,438.74 psm. That winning bid came from Kim Eng Holdings’ managing director Ooi Thean Yat Ronald Anthony, who paid $1.86 million for a shophouse with an area of 288.1 square metres. The shophouses on offer for both auctions are in the same area - the Kampong Glam conservation area, around North Bridge Road. All are zoned for commercial use and are between 94.7 and 288.1 sq m. Buyers will have to restore the shophouses, which are sold on a 99-year leasehold tenure.

At yesterday’s auction, slightly over a hundred bidders turned up at the URA Centre for the four-hour event. Observers said that competition for each parcel was intense. Corner parcels also seemed more popular.

A bidder who bought three of the shophouses was Shriniwas Rai, believed to be the veteran lawyer and former nominated member of parliament. He could not be contacted for comment last night. Mr Rai paid a total of $1.36 million for the three shophouses, paying between $3,126.17 and $4,554.87 psm for them.

Source : Business Times - 9 Mar 2006

Highest bid of $289m from Pramerica Asia entity: sources

THE combined tender for DBS Tampines Centre and the adjacent Pavillion complex near Tampines MRT Station has attracted five bids, with the highest of almost $289 million coming from an entity controlled by Pramerica Asia, sources say.

Pramerica Asia, formerly known as GRA Singapore, is said to have placed its bid on behalf of Asian Retail Mall Fund II, for which it is the fund and asset manager.

Its bid price works out to about $780 per square foot of potential floor area, including an estimated $10.8 million in development charges payable to the state to redevelop the combined site into a new mall with much more floor area than the two existing buildings together.

Analysts say Pramerica Asia’s bid price works out to a breakeven cost of about $1,800 psf for a new mall. This assumes it does not top up the combined site’s lease - the remaining tenure is about 83 years - to the original 99 years.

Based on this breakeven cost, it may be possible for Pramerica to achieve a net property yield of at least 6 per cent by the time the new mall is completed in about three years.

Outline provisional permission has been obtained to redevelop the combined site of about 90,700 sq ft into a five-storey shopping centre with three basements, with a 4.2 plot ratio (ratio of maximum gross floor area to land area).

Besides Pramerica Asia, other bidders for the properties may have included CapitaLand, Centrepoint Properties, Lippo group and Lend Lease, sources suggest.

DBS Tampines Centre was securitised by DBS Bank in 1999. The eight-storey block has shops in the basement and on the first and second storeys, and offices on the upper floors.

The four-storey Pavillion, owned by Cathay Organisation, was formerly used as a cineplex but is now leased for food and beverage, and entertainment use.

Knight Frank, which handled the joint tender for the two properties, declined comment yesterday.

Source : Business Times - 1 Mar 2006

The days of the Singapore Tennis Centre along the East Coast Parkway may be numbered.

The landmark site, which has been occupied by Singapore Tennis Centre Pte Ltd for almost 30 years and includes the Long Beach Seafood Restaurant - is being auctioned off by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) on Tuesday.

Although STC managing director Liu Sung Tao says it will bid for the site, the 72-year-old veteran of the local tennis scene will have to compete with contenders who may have more financial muscle.

‘As a founder of this 30-year-old business, I certainly hope we can have a chance to continue to run it,’ Mr Liu told BT. ‘I sincerely hope interested bidders can be sensible on their prices, otherwise our well-known Singapore Tennis Centre brand name may disappear from East Coast Park.

‘What I am worried about is inexperienced people who may come up with an unreasonably high bidding price and then, after one or two years, when they find things difficult, may abandon it.’

STC was popular up to the early 1990s, when tournaments were held there. But its attraction has since waned, according to a seasoned industry player.

Mr Liu plans to bring in former Asian tennis star turned sports commentator and entrepreneur Vijay Amritraj, now based in Los Angeles, to run a tennis academy if he wins the bid.

China-born Mr Liu, who was involved in the textile industry in Cambodia and Singapore before opening Singapore Tennis Centre in 1977, lamented that SLA turned down his request for an automatic extension of his lease as a sitting tenant. Instead, he was told he would have to compete with other bidders at an auction for a chance to continue operating at the location.

SLA’s current policy for commercial - including recreational - sites is not to extend leases upon expiry but to conduct an open and transparent tender or auction.

STC leased the site in 1975 for 15 years, after which it exercised an option for a further 15 years. When the second term expired in July last year, SLA granted STC a temporary occupation licence pending an auction.

Mr Liu said he spent $1.5 million developing the tennis courts and clubhouse during the initial 15-year term, and a further $6 million in the second term on an adjacent recreational centre. He said he has yet to recoup his investment, after factoring in the opportunity cost of selling three freehold properties to help finance the STC venture.

He sold a bungalow at Grange Road for about $370,000 in the 1970s to invest in the first phase of STC. It would have been worth about $6.2 million today, he says. Then in the 1990s he sold two apartments in the Balmoral area for about $900,000 each to invest in STC’s Phase 2 development.

SLA is offering the property - with a land area of 174,290 sq ft and an estimated gross floor area (GFA) of 67,339 sq ft - for three years starting Sept 1, 2006, with a renewal option for two further terms of three years each.

The property comprises 10 tennis courts, a two-storey block, a single-storey block and 95 parking lots. SLA has strictly specified commercial and sports and recreation use only, with no religious or racial activity permitted. Up to 40 per cent of the overall GFA may be set aside for commercial use. The guide rent indicated to bidders is $52,000 a month.

STC began operating in January 1977, and the highlight of its grand opening two months later was an all-star exhibition featuring four professionals, including Wimbledon legend Margaret Court.

Mr Liu, a former president of the Singapore Lawn Tennis Association, was widely acknowledged as a passionate tennis entrepreneur in the 1970s. He built STC in hopes of making Singapore the tennis centre of South-east Asia, according to media reports at the time.

Knight Frank will handle the Tuesday auction at the Carlton Hotel.

Mr Liu, who has set up a venture to run 10 serviced office units in rented premises starting in May in Beijing’s Central Business District, said he may return to China if he is unsuccessful at next week’s auction.

Source : Business Times - 23 Feb 2006

The Paya Lebar Crescent house of former Citiraya CEO Ng Teck Lee, whose whereabouts are unknown, is going up for auction on Tuesday with an indicative price of $2.3 million to $2.4 million.

The two-storey freehold detached house - 97 Paya Lebar Crescent - is being put up for sale by its mortgagee bank, which is understood to be United Overseas Bank.

Knight Frank is conducting the auction. The property has a land area of about 7,308 sq ft and a gross floor area of about 5,000 sq ft. The bungalow has four bedrooms, each with an attached bathroom.

The property was in the news in March last year when it was advertised in The Sunday Times’ classified section. The ad had a housing agent’s contact number and the agent subsequently said the ‘very serious seller’ who had ‘emigrated’ was asking for $3.4 million, BT reported at the time. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) then stepped in to say that no sale would be allowed pending the bureau’s investigations at Citiraya.

CPIB said then it had asked the Registrar of Titles & Deeds to lodge a caveat on the property. A title search yesterday showed a Registrar’s caveat lodged on the property on March 8, 2005.

Potential buyers may wish to note that next week’s auction conditions for the property state that it is being sold free from encumbrances. If, however, the vendor (in this case, the mortgagee bank) is unable to remove any caveat charge order or other encumbrance, the sale will be cancelled and any deposit paid will be refunded to the buyer.

Ng is understood to have bought the house for $2.6 million in 2000. He is now at large, and the property is being offered with vacant possession.

Eleven people have been charged so far with corruption at Citiraya, an electronic-waste recycler.

Of the eleven, nine have been jailed. The jailed people include Ng’s younger brother, Teck Boon, who was formerly Citiraya’s assistant general manager. He was sentenced to eight years’ jail.

Citiraya, listed on the Singapore Exchange, has filed for judicial management. Knight Frank auctioneer Mary Sai, who confirmed that the house will go under the hammer on Tuesday, said the property has drawn a fair amount of interest since it appeared on its auction list - from those intrigued by its previous occupant as well as potential buyers.

Source : Business Times - 22 Feb 2006

A SIX-STOREY freehold service apartment block in Tiong Bahru was snapped up on Wednesday at an auction for $10.2 million.

The property at 3 Seng Poh Road was bought by a small investor who was represented by a lawyer, according to Colliers International, which conducted the auction. The property was put up for sale by mortgagee United Overseas Bank. The mortgagor was Kim Koon Garment Industries, according to an earlier report.

The property has a land area of 9,143 sq ft and a gross floor area of 27,451 sq ft. The building has an eating house on the first storey, a car park on the second and third storeys, and 61 service apartments occupying the upper levels. Colliers had earlier said that buyers may continue operating the building as a service apartment or apply to convert it into a boarding house or budget hotel. Bidding for the building began at $9 million and the property attracted 12 bids in all before it was sold.

Colliers also sold two strata office units at the auction. One was an 18th floor unit at High Street Centre, which changed hands at $325,000 or $593 psf. The other was a 19th floor unit at International Plaza which fetched $470,000 or $502 psf.

Source : Business Times - 10 Feb 2006