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A TWO-HECTARE industrial site at Tampines Street 92/Simei Avenue was launched for sale by public tender yesterday, with market watchers expecting the plot to attract strong interest.

The site is expected to fetch between $12 million and $14 million, or $40-45 per sq ft per plot ratio. ‘Judging by recent bidding for industrial sites in areas such as Enterprise Road and Tuas, we can expect keen interest,’ said Dominic Peters, Savills Singapore’s director of industrial business space. ‘The site is also small, which means the cost for interested parties is likely to be manageable.’

The site has a plot ratio of 1.4, which gives it a gross floor area of 27,900 sq m. The lease period is 30 years, and the site has a maximum building height of 49 m above mean sea level. The land parcel is zoned for ‘Business 2′ use, which means it can be used for clean, light and general industrial purposes, and warehousing.

The site is the first of two industrial sites to be launched for tender under the confirmed list of the Government’s Industrial Land Sale Programme for the first half of 2007. The other site, at Kaki Bukit Road 3, will be launched in June, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said.

The tender for the Tampines site will close at noon on April 10. Selection will be based on the tendered land price alone.

Source : Business Times - 14 Feb 2007

Potential buyers said to include German, Dutch and Australian parties

Office space owned by the Singapore Exchange at SGX Centre 1 has attracted top bids exceeding $1,600 psf of net lettable area, say industry sources.

SGX Centre

This would be a new high for such space in the central business district in the current property cycle, though still shy of the $2,200 psf record set in January 1996 when Straits Steamship Land (now Keppel Land) sold seven floors of what is now known as Prudential Tower in the China Square area to Prudential Assurance Company Singapore.

It remains to be seen if SGX will sell its space at current price offers or seek even higher bids. Besides the 19th to 29th floors of the 29-storey SGX Centre 1, SGX also owns space on the second and third levels of the podium of SGX Centre.

United Overseas Bank and Singapore Land own the rest of the space in the tower and probably have a right of first refusal to buy the space owned by SGX, reckon industry watchers.

The property stands on a site with a remaining lease of about 87 years. Market watchers expect SGX to lease back space from the buyer for at least five years.

Jones Lang LaSalle, which SGX has appointed to handle the sale of 169,500 square feet of net lettable area that it owns in the property, declined to comment.

However, industry sources say that shortlisted bidders have already made their offers. They are said to be primarily overseas parties - including German, Dutch and Australian.

Market watchers believe that bidders included an ING-linked fund, along with Australia’s Allco group. Others who may have bidded included Deutsche Bank’s real estate arm DB Real Estate, and Australia’s Macquarie group, along with entities linked to Credit Suisse and CLSA.

The latter three have been active in recent office deals in Singapore. Last year, a property fund managed by CLSA Capital Partners bought SIA Building for $343.88 million or $1,165 psf; a Credit Suisse-managed property fund bought Lippo Centre at 78 Shenton Way for over $348 million or about $1,160 psf; and a fund managed by Macquarie Global Property Advisors snapped up 12 floors at Springleaf Tower for a total of about $134 million or $1,240 psf.

Just last month, the Difa-Global fund advised by ING bought Vision Crest’s office block and the House of Tan Yeok Nee next door in the Penang Road/Clemenceau Avenue area for $260 million.

Source : Business Times - 12 Feb 2007

The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) has put up six state properties for lease via public tender solely for office use. They are:

195 Pearl’s Hill Terrace, the former police headquarters.

18 Pearl’s Hill Terrace, which used to house a Criminal Investigation Department training centre.

150 Cantonment Road, the former Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau building.

341 River Valley Road, formerly River Valley Primary School.

1801 Upper Changi Road North, where a Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore office was located.

991 Alexandra Road, the former ITE Pasir Panjang.

This is the first time the SLA has put up state properties solely for office use, and it is in line with the Government’s recent initiatives to meet the demand for office space.

The tender for the former police HQ opened on Jan 30 and will close next Tuesday. The others will be put up in the first half of the year. Leases are from three to nine years.

SLA’s director of land operations Simon Ong said: ‘These state properties were selected to help ease the office space crunch and optimise the use of vacant state properties.’

Property consultancy firm CB Richard Ellis executive director Moray Armstrong welcomed the move, describing it as ‘a measured and prudent response to the immediate tight office situation’. But he noted that it will meet only a limited pool of occupier requirements.

For inquiries, log on to www.spio.sla.gov.sg, or call 6323-9154. Go to www.gebiz.gov.sg for tender documents

Source : Straits Times - 7 Feb 2007

Lease Old Admiralty House - National monument up for tender for recreation, spa or eatery businesses

For the first time, a national monument has been put up for public tender by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA).

The Old Admiralty House in Sembawang, built in 1939 by the famous British architect Edwin Lutyens, is available to tenants looking for a place with some old-fashioned history to give it an edge.

Lutyens is known for designing the Cenotaph in London and the planning of the Indian capital New Delhi, when it was chosen to replace Calcutta as the seat of the then-British Indian government in 1912.

Bidders can use the site - leasing at $34,600 a month - for sports, recreation, beauty and health centres, restaurants or adventure campsites, although other suggestions will also be considered for approval, SLA added.

Gazetted by the Preservation of Monuments Board (PMB) in 2002, the two-storey colonial residence is designed in a unique Arts and Crafts architectural style popular in the 19th century.

The house - resembling a traditional English cottage - sits on a lush, open garden and has an interesting internal layout. The design is ‘asymmetrical’ and visitors will have to change directions several times before finding the main rooms.

The building is on a 4ha site - which includes six other one- and two-storey buildings, a squash court, swimming pool, and a golf driving range - formerly occupied by Karimun Admiralty Country Club.

The latter bowed out last month without renewing the tenancy as a result of ‘change of business directions’, SLA said.

New tenants have to comply with the strict preservation guidelines outlined by SLA and PMB to restore and retain the aesthetics of Admiralty House. The lease is for three years, with an option to extend for an additional three-plus-three years.

‘This is very good news, as this place is extremely charming,’ said Dr James Khoo, chairman of the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Conservation Advisory Panel.

‘Let the tourists go to Sentosa and the IRs, but places like this are for Singaporeans who want to keep a part of old Singapore. It’s part of our identity,’ he said.

He added that businesses would do very well there because of the atmosphere and architecture.

A recent site visit drew interest from various companies ranging from recreational club owners to those in the food and beverage, spa and lifestyle sectors, SLA said.

This included Goldkist International which was recently awarded the East Coast Resort tender.

Singapore Heritage Society president Kevin Tan agreed that national monuments should be put to good use but cautioned that with it comes great responsibility.

Referring to a previous case when unauthorised renovations were made to another national monument - the Tan Si Chong Su Temple - in Magazine Road, Dr Tan said such properties must be maintained properly.

‘We hope the authorities are careful in selecting the tenants,’ he said.

PMB executive secretary Wan Meng Hao said that bidders are aware that they have to comply with preservation policies.

‘Restoration by the new tenants will also help preserve components of our built heritage for all to enjoy,’ he added.

The tender, which opened on Jan 19, will close on Friday.

SLA has no other plans to release a preserved site for tender. Singapore currently has 55 preserved national monuments, 12 of which are managed by SLA.

Source : Straits Times - 7 Feb 2007

It is even higher than the increase in London and New York: CBRE report

SALES of offices in Singapore have been increasing at an even faster rate than those in London or New York, says a new report.

Singapore’s office property sector registered one of the world’s highest year-on-year increases in investments, and was one of the top-10 most active office markets in the world in 2006, according to the report by CB Richard Ellis.

Singapore’s $4.8 billion in office investment sales in 2006 was about 150 per cent more than the $1.9 billion in 2005. Madrid saw office investment sales increase 120 per cent from 1.9 billion euros ($3.8 billion) to 2.2 billion euros, while Paris saw investment sales increase 85.7 per cent from 9.1 billion euros to 16.9 billion euros.

In a list of 12 most active markets in 2006, London had the highest office investment sales of US$27.6 billion, followed by New York with US$23.3 billion.

Toronto was at the bottom of the list with US$1.4 billion in sales followed by Sydney with US$1.8 billion and Hong Kong with US$1.9 billion in sales.

On Singapore’s office property market, CBRE’s executive director (investment properties) Jeremy Lake said: ‘Singapore’s very conducive investor climate has attracted an expanding pool of foreign investors last year. We expect investor sentiment in the commercial sector to continue to be strong this year given the healthy leasing demand and limited supply in the medium term.’

Investment sales include Credit Suisse’s purchase of Lippo Centre for $348.5 million and CLSA Investment Bank’s purchase of SIA Building and HB Robinson for $343.9 million.

CBRE’s report also revealed that capitalisation rate was 4.9 per cent per by end-2009. It was highest in Beijing (8 per cent) and Shanghai (8 per cent) and lowest in London (3.75 per cent) and Paris (4 per cent).

The report noted that American investors were responsible for US$313 million of Shanghai’s investment sales while in Hong Kong, Australians were found to be the top investors, acquiring over US$643 million in assets.

Middle Easterners still favour the US, with over $5 billion spent there, exceeding the US$3.7 billion spent by Australians. Australians were previously the biggest spenders in the US, acquiring more than US$8.5 billion in 2005.

Gregory S Vorwaller, president of CBRE’s invest properties group, said: ‘The increasing volume of global office investment activity over the past five years reflects the abundant institutional and private investor capital that has been allocated to real estate and the migration of this capital across borders in pursuit of opportunity.’

Source : Business Times - 6 Feb 2007