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The Urban Redevelopment Authority has received a committed bid of $5.1 million from an unnamed developer for an industrial site in Tuas that is on the reserve list of the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme. The site - at Tuas Bay Drive/Tuas South Avenue 3 - will be put up for public tender in two weeks. The site was put on the reserve list about four weeks ago. Two other industrial sites remain on the reserve list.

At the committed price of $5.1 million, the site would cost about $13 per square foot. The final bid price is expected to be higher. In April, another industrial site in Tuas on the GLS programme was sold for $5.8 million or about $15 psf. The site at Tuas Bay Drive/Tuas South Avenue 3 has an area of about 3.68 hectares and maximum permissible gross plot ratio of 1.0, with a lease period of 60 years. It is zoned for Business 2 development and has a building height restriction of 10 storeys.

Source : Business Times - 25 Nov 2006

MAPLETREE Logistics Trust (MapletreeLog) has sealed a deal to buy a warehouse and office property in the northern part of Singapore for $18 million from Winstant & Co.

The property, at 6 Marsiling Lane, has been acquired on a sale-and-leaseback basis. Winstant, whose core business includes trading in engineering hardware, will lease the premises for seven years with an option to extend for a further term of up to seven years.

Chua Tiow Chye, chief executive officer of Mapletree Logistics Trust Management Ltd (MLTM), said the deal is in line with its strategy to strengthen the trust’s portfolio in Singapore and deliver stable cash distributions to unit-holders through medium to long-term leases. MLTM is the manager of MapletreeLog.

The Marsiling Lane property comprises three blocks of industrial warehousing with ancillary offices, plus a two-storey office building. It is in an established industrial and warehousing cluster in Marsiling. Other tenants in the complex include car distributor Borneo Motors, and ABB Industry, a subsidiary of the New York-listed ABB Group.

The property was valued at $18.4 million by Chesterton International Property Consultants on Monday. It has a floor area of 16,207 sq m and sits on a leasehold site of 19,347.4 sq m. The land lease expires in 2038.

The acquisition is expected to be completed by February 2007.

Source : Business Times - 23 Nov 2006

A COMPANY linked to City Developments (CDL) has topped a tender for a hotel site at Mohamed Sultan/Nanson Road with a bid that is almost 30 per cent higher than the nearest competitor.

Republic Hotels & Resorts offered $45.8 million or about $518 per sq ft (psf) of potential gross floor area for the site that can accommodate a hotel up to 10 storeys high.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) tender drew six bidders when it closed yesterday.

Reflecting the keen interest, the top bid was 11 per cent higher than the $466 psf per plot ratio received in August for a hotel site next to Robertson Quay Hotel at nearby Clemenceau Avenue. It is also almost twice the $300 psf per plot ratio paid in January last year for another hotel site next to the Carlton Hotel at North Bridge Road, noted the executive director of CB Richard Ellis Research, Mr Li Hiaw Ho.

When developed, CDL is expected to inject the hotel into its hospitality real estate investment trust if its bid is accepted, he said.

Mr Gerry de Silva, spokesman for Hong Leong Group - the controlling shareholder of CDL - said: ‘If we are indeed awarded, the Hong Leong Group will have seven hotels in Singapore.’

There are currently four hotels under the CDL Hospitality Trust - Orchard Hotel, M Hotel, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel and Copthorne King’s Hotel.

Source : Straits Times - 22 Nov 2006

The Hong Leong Group has emerged as the highest bidder for a hotel site in Mohamed Sultan Road.

Its bid of $45.8 million is about $10 million or 30 per cent more than the second highest, made by Park Hotel Group. Hong Leong’s offer works out to about $520 psf per plot ratio, 11 per cent more than what Park Hotel Group paid for a nearby hotel site in Unity Street in August.

Hong Leong Group spokesman Gerry de Silva said that it intends to develop a contemporary ‘limited service hotel’ with about 350 to 400 rooms under its Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (M&C) brand. ‘This will be a new market segment that M&C would be looking to satisfy.’

On the bullish bid, David Ling, managing director of hospitality consultancy HVS International, said that it ’signalled confidence in the hotel industry’ here.

He highlighted that room rates had increased by 15-20 per cent this year already and that next year is likely to see increases of 10-15 per cent.

He added that if the Urban Redevelopment Authority were to release larger hotel sites, these would probably be ’snapped up by the big boys’.

One outcome of rising prices is that smaller players have been left out. Hotel 81-linked Cityview Development emerged as the third highest bidder, at $34.1 million.

Six bids were received in total and the tender award will be made after the bids have been evaluated.

Mr Ling said that while Hong Leong might have offered a high price because it expects room rates to go up, it could also suggest that it expects lower hotel investment yields.

Li Hiaw Ho, executive director at CB Richard Ellis Research, believes the high bid by Hong Leong suggests that the future hotel could be destined for the group’s real-estate investment trust, which is called City Developments Limited Hospitality Trusts.

Mr Li said that the high price was not unexpected as hotel occupancy rates rose from 83.5 per cent in the first nine months of 2005 to 84.3 per cent in the same period in 2006.

Source : Business Times - 22 Nov 2006

ASCENDAS Real Estate Investment Trust (A-Reit) yesterday said it will develop a partial build-to-suit distribution facility at Changi LogisPark (North) with Zuellig Pharma as its anchor tenant.

The proposed project is expected to cost about S$32.5 million with completion slated for early 2008.

A-Reit said in its statement yesterday that the development, to be built on a 20,137-square-metre site, will be a two-storey distribution centre-cum-office facility.

The land tenure is 60 years starting from Jan 1, 2007.

The gross floor area for the project is pegged at 30,439 sq m, with net lettable floor area estimated at 28,619 sq m.

Zuellig Pharma, a marketing and distribution company for pharmaceutical products, will commit to 80 per cent of the space for 10 years from the completion of the building, with an option to renew for another 5+5 years upon the expiry of the initial lease.

The remaining 20 per cent of the space at the proposed development will be leased to third-party users.

The transaction also includes a lease restructuring on Zuellig Pharma’s existing tenancy in its Changi Logistic Centre premises, which will be vacated when A-Reit’s project is completed.

Tan Ser Ping, chief executive officer of A-Reit manager Ascendas-MGM Funds Management, said the proposed development will strengthen A-Reit’s relationship with Zuellig Pharma, an existing tenant, and reaffirm A-Reit’s commitment in providing total business space solutions that help its tenants improve their operating efficiency.

A-Reit has appointed Ascendas Land Singapore as development manager, and Ascendas Services as its project manager to oversee and supervise the development and construction process.

Source : Business Times - 22 Nov 2006