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In just one week, Wheelock Properties has already sold half of its highly anticipated Scotts Square, a new condominium being built on the former Scotts Shopping Centre site.

The developer said yesterday that 169 units have been sold at an average price of $4,008 per sq ft (psf).

That makes Scotts Square second only to The Marq on Paterson Hill in terms of median value. Units at The Marq were reported to have fetched an average price of $4,044 psf in June.

The highest price achieved at Scotts Square was $4,430 psf for a one-bedroom apartment on the 41st floor, Wheelock said. A Singaporean bought the unit for $2.67 million.

Only two other condos are known to have commanded higher prices on a psf basis: The Marq, which had a unit sold for $5,100 psf; and, The Orchard Residences at Orchard Turn, where a penthouse unit was recently snapped up for $5,500 psf.

Property consultants said yesterday that the strong take-up for Scotts Square was not surprising, as the project had been much talked about over the last few months. They added, however, that sales were still impressive, given the stock market selldown in the last two days.

‘We set out to sell 40 per cent of the development through private placement,’ said executive director Tan Bee Kim.

But ‘the take-up rate and speed’ were so good that they placed out another 10 per cent.

The units sold at Scotts Square so far were offered by invitation to past buyers of Wheelock projects. The rest of the apartments will be officially launched to the public late next month, together with the show flat.

About 63 per cent of the units sold were taken up by Singaporeans or permanent residents, Wheelock said. The remaining buyers were predominantly Indonesians.

Source : Straits Times - 3 Aug 2007

WHEELOCK Properties will launch its upmarket Scotts Square residential project only in September or October, but the developer is already pulling out all the stops now.

To showcase the 338-unit freehold project, the company recently spent over $500,000 to build a ‘corporate gallery’, which is now being used to entertain potential buyers - even as the showflats are being constructed.

Furnished with a fully equipped dry kitchen cum bar complete with champagne and piped-in music, the gallery also comes with a $2.3 million sculpture - British artist and sculptor Henry Moore’s 1971 Working Model for Sheep Piece. The sculpture will be one of the four pieces of art that will grace Scotts Square once it is completed in 2010.

Market watchers said that it is unsurprising that Wheelock is willing to fork out such large sums of money to market Scotts Square ahead of the launch as prices are expected to hit $5,000 per square foot (psf) there.

Last month, SC Global said that a unit at its freehold The Marq On Paterson Hill has been sold for $5,100 psf. In all, a total of 21 apartments were sold at an average $4,137 psf.

Scotts Square is generally considered to be in a better location, market watchers said.

Pre-marketing for the project started two weeks ago, and the response has been ‘very good’ so far, said Tan Bee Kim, an executive director at Wheelock.

‘We don’t price our properties until they are ready for launch,’ said MsTan when asked about Scotts Square’s launch price. ‘But I am optimistic. We are getting a lot of demand.’

There have been offers from both local and foreign funds to buy multiple units in the development for investment, Ms Tan said. But she added that Wheelock will prefer to sell to individual buyers, many of whom are likely to be previous customers of Wheelock.

Typically, about 50 per cent of units in each of its projects are bought by foreigners, but Ms Tan expects the proportion to be higher this time around.

Wheelock will be departing from current market trends in a few ways with Scotts Square. Unlike other upmarket launches of late, all the units will be launched at one go, rather than in phases.

And Scotts Square will offer smaller units than other recent luxury projects - and no penthouses.

The 338 units will consist of one, two and three-

bedroom apartments of 600 sq ft, 900 sq ft and 1,200 sq ft respectively.

Ms Tan said that Scotts Square is the only project the developer intends to launch for the rest of 2007.

Two other upcoming freehold residential developments - Orchard View at Angullia Park and Ardmore Vue at Ardmore Park - are likely to be launched only next year, Ms Tan said.

Wheelock’s shares closed six cents up at $3.40 yesterday.

Source : Business Times - 21 Jul 2007

Soleil@Sinaran is latest in new trend for high-rises that enhances privacy

Soleil at Sinaran

The upcoming Frasers Centrepoint Homes condo Soleil@Sinaran is the latest to reflect the trend for soaring buildings raised high on columns.

Architects 61, which also designed The Cosmopolitan in the River Valley area, said that by elevating the 417-unit Soleil@Sinaran, ‘the privacy of the units is enhanced to greater heights’.

Considerations in the design of Soleil@Sinaran included a high plot ratio of 3.5, a height restriction of about 40 storeys and high-density living.

The architects also felt that adjacent mid-rise private flats and Novena Square commercial development had large footprints and, therefore, views were minimised.

Architects 61 said: ‘Privacy of the lowest level of units is further enhanced by locating it as high from the ground as possible.’

Like The Cosmopolitan - and many other new condominiums - Soleil@Sinaran will rise from above street level.

But will columns be the only thing visible from street level?

Asked about the impact on the streetscape from buildings raised on columns, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said: ‘Generally, in certain areas within the city centre, urban design guidelines are put in place where the context requires buildings to relate to the street and their surrounding developments.

‘In the case of The Cosmopolitan, it is located in a residential area where the relation of the building to the street is not as critical. Hence the guidelines do not specifically require the building to do so.’

For Soleil@Sinaran, raising the building has allowed Architects 61 to free more space for landscaping that will include lagoons, pool lounges, entertainment pavilions with spa alcoves and spa pavilions to create a ‘green podium’.

‘The landscaping extends into the depth of the tower footprint,’ the architects said. ‘Trees grown within the covered first-

storey terrace provide a human scale to the tower rising above, ‘dissolving’ the boundary between the inside and the outside. It is this landscaped podium that provides the human scale at street level.’

Soleil@Sinaran is expected to be launched mid-August. Prices have not be fixed yet.

Source : Business Times - 19 Jul 2007

Two new projects have been put on the market - 8napier on the former Eng Lok Mansion site near Botanic Gardens, and The Rochester in the one-north precinct.

8 Napier

Prices at the 46-unit 8napier range from $4,000 to $4,500 per sq ft for apartments, and for now, the plan is to limit sales to just 10 to 12 apartments in the freehold development.

‘We may sell another dozen or so apartments when our showflat is ready on site in a few months’ time. But we plan to keep the rest of the project, including the six penthouses, for sale after the project is completed, which will probably be around end-2009,’ Mark Wee, director of Napier Properties, said when contacted by BT yesterday.

The company, controlled by Mr Wee and former Parkway boss Tony Tan, is currently previewing the project at its office on the 21st floor of Ngee Ann City Tower A.

The 10-storey 8napier has 40 apartments (either three- or four-bedder units) and six penthouses.

All the penthouses are duplex units, ranging in size from more than 4,000 sq ft to nearly 6,000 sq ft. They are expected to be sold by auction.

The smallest three-bedder apartment in the project is just over 2,000 sq ft and is priced at about $8 million. ‘All the units come fully loaded with top-notch lighting, sound system and kitchen equipment, bathroom fittings and the like, so that our buyers do not have to do any renovations as we are fitting the units to the highest standard currently available in the Singapore market. This should minimise the hassle of moving in,’ Mr Wee said.

He declined to say how many units have been sold so far but buyers are understood to be a mix of foreigners and Singaporeans.

Over at one-north, United Engineers is believed to have priced The Rochester apartments in the $1,000 to $1,200 per sq ft range. UE could not provide the average price yesterday when contacted by BT. The 99-year leasehold project is opposite One North Residences, which was sold earlier this year at an average price of around $900-950 per sq ft, market watchers said.

The Rochester has a total of 368 residential units, including eight penthouses, in a 36-storey block. The project is part of a mixed development that also includes a 100,000 sq ft mall and hotel.

The entire project is slated for completion around 2009-10. The residential component comprises one, two, and three-bedroom apartments and penthouses. Some of the one-bedders are duplexes. UE began selling the units yesterday, according to its spokesman.

Source : Business Times - 17 Jul 2007

SC Global will price penthouses at $5,000 per sq ft

SC Global Development Ltd, which sold homes at its The Marq apartment project at a record price last month, said foreigners made up about 60 per cent of the buyers.

SG Global will price its penthouses, twice the size of its regular apartments at the development, at about $5,000 per square foot (psf), matching the record $5,100 achieved in other units, chief executive officer Simon Cheong said in an interview yesterday.

Singapore home prices are surging, driven by the longest economic expansion in a decade and the world’s fastest-growing population of millionaires. Investors paid between $11million and $31 million for the first 21 homes sold at The Marq, a five-minute walk to the main shopping district of Orchard Road. The units fetched an average price of $4,137 psf, the company said on June 28.

‘Singapore’s becoming more and more of a global city, and our buyers are well travelled and well heeled, and they compare our product against those in other gateway cities around the world, and they find the prices to be reasonable,’ Mr Cheong said.

SC Global shares were unchanged at $6.70 at the 5.05 pm close. SC Global’s stock almost tripled this year, compared with the 37per cent average gain for Singapore property index\. \– Bloomberg

Source : Business Times - 17 Jul 2007