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Two freehold residential development sites in prime locations are up for sale this week.

Colliers International yesterday offered a Killiney Road site for sale via an expression of interest - the same site offered for sale by tender last June.

Killiney Apartments

And tomorrow, Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) begins the sale by tender of Pender Court, a residential apartment block minutes from the future Sentosa integrated resort (IR).

Pender Court is in Wishart Road within walking distance of HarbourFront MRT Station. The site area is 65,500 sq ft, with a plot ratio of 1.4.

As for the asking price, a C&W spokesman declined to give a figure, saying: ‘It is really up to the market to tender.’

But in an earlier statement, C&W managing director Donald Han said: ‘Ninety-nine-year development sites for Sentosa condo plots have already achieved benchmark prices in excess of $1,350 per square foot per plot ratio.’

He noted that ‘current going prices for apartments at The Caribbean @ Keppel Bay are in the region of $1,500-$1,600 per sq ft’.

As for how much the 40,348 sq ft Killiney Road site is expected to fetch, Colliers International director for investment sales Ho Eng Joo said: ‘The indicative sale price is around $1,000 per sq ft per plot ratio, inclusive of development charge, or about $115 million’.

The Killiney Road site is zoned for residential use, with a gross plot ratio of 2.8 and a 10-storey height limit.

Both Colliers and C&W are optimistic that the sites will attract investors.

Colliers’ Mr Ho said of the Killiney Road plot: ‘Its proximity to the Somerset area, coupled with the rejuvenation of Orchard Road, will help attract developers.’

The buyer could possibly redevelop the site into a 75-unit condominium development with each unit measuring around 1,500 sq ft, he added.

C&W said the Pender Court site offers ‘tremendous potential’ to developers looking to ‘land-bank a freehold residential site within proximity to the IR’.

C&W’s sale by tender of Pender Court closes on April 25, while offers for the Killiney Road site can be submitted to Colliers by March 28.

Source : Business Times - 14 Mar 2007

Six parties snap up the properties with bids as high as $3 million

THIRTEEN shophouses and two plots of land in Kampong Glam were auctioned off yesterday, as part of the long-term conservation plan for the heritage district.

Six parties, including an investment company called Classic View, snagged the pre-war properties with bids ranging from $510,000 to $3.06 million.

Most of the winners are obliged to restore existing conserved shophouses or rebuild shophouses on the vacant plots.

They can be used for shops, offices, restaurants and other commercial purposes.

One bidder, Mr Wong Nam Sim, bought two shophouses and one vacant plot in Jalan Sultan for a total of $1.83 million.

The properties could be converted into retail space.

The auction was the latest in a series the Urban Redevelopment Authority has conducted in the area from 1995.

Since then, it has sold about 100 shophouses - both restored and unrestored - for commercial use.

The Kampong Glam area, where Sultan Mosque is located, is known for its rich Malay and Arab heritage.

An 8.9ha area bounded by Ophir Road, Victoria Street, Jalan Sultan and Beach Road was gazetted as a conservation area in 1989.

The area has been quietly developing ever since.

The Istana Kampong Glam - a palace built in 1840 by Sultan Ali, the son of former Singapore ruler Sultan Hussein Shah - was turned into the Malay Heritage Centre.

Bussorah Street, in turn, was turned into a pedestrian mall.

Most of the buildings in the area are shophouses, the majority of which have remained intact.

There are more than 600 conserved properties in the area that can be used as commercial premises.

The URA restored and sold 48 shophouses in Bussorah and Arab streets from 1993 onwards to promote good restoration practices and encourage other building owners to do the same.

It then decided to offer subsequent unrestored shophouses for sale.

Another 20 unrestored shophouses in Kampong Glam will be sold in the future.

Shophouses figure prominently in Singapore’s architectural heritage, making up about 5,700 of the more than 6,000 conserved properties in Singapore.

One of the most iconic of the lot is the Red House in Katong.

There, an old-style bakery churned out Swiss rolls and curry puffs from 1931 until 2003.

The two-storey shophouse with a fire-engine-red facade, which is about 80 years old, is a wakaf property - or a property dedicated by Muslims towards charitable purposes.

The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis), which manages the property, had said earlier this week that it may turn the Red House into a boutique hotel.

About two years ago, there were tentative plans to reopen it as a foodcourt.

Source : Straits Times - 9 Mar 2007

KIM Eng Properties Pte Ltd has emerged as the top tenderer for a hotly contested 0.13 hectare commercial site at New Bridge Road/North Canal Road, after putting in a $44.0 million bid.

A statement from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) after the tender closed yesterday showed that there were 11 bids for the site.

Kim Eng’s bid was 25 per cent higher than the next highest bid of $35.2 million by ACT-Nobel Homes. Other bidders include Ho Bee Development ($28.0 million), Popular Holdings ($27.3 million) and Hoi Hup Realty ($22.6 million). The 99-year leasehold land parcel is likely to be awarded to Kim Eng Properties.

The site has a maximum gross floor area of 58,000 sq ft, which means that if Kim Eng is awarded the site, it will pay $758.40 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) - about twice the reserve price which triggered the public tender.

URA launched the site for sale in December after receiving a committed bid for $21.5 million. Based on the committed bid (or trigger price), the price offered came to $370.60 psf ppr.

But market observers said then that the site could fetch about $650-750 psf ppr due to its prime location. The site is directly opposite Swissotel Merchant Court near the Clarke Quay MRT Station.

Also, in recent months, the disparity between trigger and tender prices has become more marked as the property market continues its upswing.

‘The keen competition for the site by end-users, developers and institutional investors reflects the prevailing office supply shortage situation as well as upbeat sentiments about the office market,’ said Li Hiaw Ho, executive director of property firm CB Richard Ellis’ research unit.

The site, said Mr Li, could be developed into a six-storey office development of about 50,000 sq ft, and is suitable for SMEs.

The site is the first small-scale commercial land parcel to be put up for sale by URA in the area. A white site opposite this site was sold for $408 psf ppr in early 2000. That site was developed into The Central, a mixed development with SOHO, office and retail uses. Prices of office units in The Central currently range between $1,209 and $1,560 psf, Mr Li said.

Kim Eng Properties is owned by Kim Eng Holdings, which is a securities broking group.

Source : Business Times - 15 Feb 2007

BOTANIKA, a free-hold boutique development next to the Botanic Gardens (picture), will be auctioned off on March 31 by a leading international real estate marketing agent, Ken Jacobs, an affiliate of Colliers International and Christie’s Great Estates.

Botanika

Mr Jacobs came into the Singapore spotlight when he famously sold Sentosa Cove to the international market — selling 12 oceanfront, waterway and fairway villa land parcels at an auction in late August last year.

Developed by Tuan Sing Group member Premiera Development Pte Ltd, the 34-unit Botanika is a world away from the offerings of Sentosa Cove, but Colliers International is hoping to get the same response from the market.

Multi-award-winning architect Chan Soo Kian of SCDA Architects designed the project that is located at the junction of Holland Road and Taman Nakhoda.

The prime units up for auction comprise two double- storied 3-bedroom penthouses, six 4-bedroom, three 3-bedroom, and one 2-bedroom apartment. Their floor areas range from 1,442sq ft to 3,294sq ft. Buyers have the option to combine units.

“All 12 units overlook an unobstructed panorama of lush greenery, which seamlessly merges with various waterscape features and are fitted with luxurious fittings from leading world brands,” said Ms Grace Ng, deputy managing director (agency and business services) and auctioneer at Colliers International. “With the recent hype on record prices set by the high-end luxury residential projects, we expect to receive keen interest from investors, particularly given Botanika’s strategic location,” she said.

The other 22 units have been already been sold at a private preview consisting of the developer’s friends and business associates. A transaction last month saw a unit fetching close to $2,000psf.

“We predict international buyers will have a considerable impact in defining the market of the most sought-after properties. In this regard, the intrinsic appeal of Botanika, a development which integrates innovative architectural design features with the unique natural surroundings to create a rare environment, will set rather than follow the market,” said Mr Jacobs.

Like the Sentosa Cove auction before it, live webcasts to bidders overseas is available upon request.

Source : Weekend Today - 3 Feb 2007

DBS Bank has put four commercial properties on the market for sale by tender, with a total indicative price of $130 million. Marketing agent Chesterton International says one condition is that all four buildings must be bought as a bundle.

The buildings are relatively small, with the largest having a gross floor area (GFA) of about 2,500 sq m. Two of the properties are, however, particularly well located in popular neighbourhoods.

Mr Yuen would not reveal individual valuations of the properties. But a building in Holland Village, at 100 Taman Warna, is probably the most valuable of the lot. The three-storey building now houses a POSBank branch, but the site has a plot ratio of 3.0 and a maximum allowable GFA of some 5,800 sq m. The building has a 99-year lease from 1985 and is zoned commercial.

The second building in the bundle that could prove attractive to developers is 42 Upper East Coast Road near the F&B hub of Siglap. The site, also zoned commercial, has redevelopment potential and the plot ratio is 3.0 with maximum allowable GFA of about 7,200 sq m.

Chesterton’s associate director for investments, Mark Yuen, says he has already received expressions of interest from real-estate asset funds and developers.

Of the other two properties, one is a commercial building at 10 Aljunied Road on a 9,806 sq ft site with a plot ratio of 2.8. The site is zoned residential/institutional. The fourth building is at 45/45A MacPherson Road, with GFA of 7,741 sq ft sitting on a 10,360 sq ft site. It has a plot ratio of 1.4 and is zoned civic and community/institutional.

Source : Business Times - 1 Feb 2007