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Prime plot can house posh shops, a hotel and 2 condos; a bungalow site is also on offer

WATER views - lake or ocean - are up for grabs with the imminent release of new sites in the exclusive residential enclave Sentosa Cove.

The Lakefront Collection comprises coveted residential bungalow sites beside Serapong Lake, while a prime site that can house posh shops, restaurants, a hotel and two condominiums is also on offer.

The Quayside Collection, as the prime 48,611 sq m site is known, is unique in the Cove as it will be the only commercial site for sale and foreign developers are believed to be keen. Developers can bid for the combined hotel and commercial site and omit the condominium plots, but will not be allowed to bid for only the condominium sites.

But investors are unlikely to forgo these plots, given Sentosa Cove’s latest seafront condominium plot sold at $638.62 per sq ft (psf) per plot ratio (ppr) - 82 per cent higher than the first plot two years ago.

‘The condo plots are the carrots. Developers would be able to sell the condo units to finance part of the hotel and commercial portion,’ said Knight Frank director of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak.

He expects the condominium sites, which face the water, to fetch $400-$450 psf ppr. There is space for up to 236 units in the two six- storey projects. ‘The hotel and shops would have a longer payback period, particularly as the hotel would face competition from the other hotels on Sentosa,’ he added.

The seven-storey, five-star 320-room hotel will be the only hotel in the Cove. It will add to the existing 800 hotel rooms on Sentosa as well as new hotels under construction.

The Quayside Collection will be sold through a two-envelope system. Parties have until April 28 to submit their price and concept proposals.

Sentosa Cove, the company overseeing the planning and development of the area, will award the site in the third quarter. And by the end of the first quarter, it will launch the Lakefront Collection, comprising 15 bungalow sites beside Serapong Lake. The site will be sold en bloc to a developer, which will be allowed to build structures and amenities such as a verandah over the water.

The 12,327.2 sq m Lakefront Collection has the last bungalow sites to be offered for sale in north Sentosa Cove. Only three other bungalow sites in the north Cove launched earlier remain unsold.

Sentosa Cove will also soon offer the north Cove’s last condominium site. This has a four-storey height limit and could accommodate up to 160 units. The other available plots in Sentosa Cove are in the southern section. These will be marketed later this year.

So far, Sentosa Cove has sold 57 per cent of its planned 2,518 residential units.

Source : Straits Times - 15 Feb 2006

Prime plot can house posh shops, a hotel and 2 condos; a bungalow site is also on offer

WATER views - lake or ocean - are up for grabs with the imminent release of new sites in the exclusive residential enclave Sentosa Cove.

The Lakefront Collection comprises coveted residential bungalow sites beside Serapong Lake, while a prime site that can house posh shops, restaurants, a hotel and two condominiums is also on offer.

The Quayside Collection, as the prime 48,611 sq m site is known, is unique in the Cove as it will be the only commercial site for sale and foreign developers are believed to be keen. Developers can bid for the combined hotel and commercial site and omit the condominium plots, but will not be allowed to bid for only the condominium sites.

But investors are unlikely to forgo these plots, given Sentosa Cove’s latest seafront condominium plot sold at $638.62 per sq ft (psf) per plot ratio (ppr) - 82 per cent higher than the first plot two years ago.

‘The condo plots are the carrots. Developers would be able to sell the condo units to finance part of the hotel and commercial portion,’ said Knight Frank director of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak.

He expects the condominium sites, which face the water, to fetch $400-$450 psf ppr. There is space for up to 236 units in the two six- storey projects. ‘The hotel and shops would have a longer payback period, particularly as the hotel would face competition from the other hotels on Sentosa,’ he added.

The seven-storey, five-star 320-room hotel will be the only hotel in the Cove. It will add to the existing 800 hotel rooms on Sentosa as well as new hotels under construction.

The Quayside Collection will be sold through a two-envelope system. Parties have until April 28 to submit their price and concept proposals.

Sentosa Cove, the company overseeing the planning and development of the area, will award the site in the third quarter. And by the end of the first quarter, it will launch the Lakefront Collection, comprising 15 bungalow sites beside Serapong Lake. The site will be sold en bloc to a developer, which will be allowed to build structures and amenities such as a verandah over the water.

The 12,327.2 sq m Lakefront Collection has the last bungalow sites to be offered for sale in north Sentosa Cove. Only three other bungalow sites in the north Cove launched earlier remain unsold.

Sentosa Cove will also soon offer the north Cove’s last condominium site. This has a four-storey height limit and could accommodate up to 160 units. The other available plots in Sentosa Cove are in the southern section. These will be marketed later this year.

So far, Sentosa Cove has sold 57 per cent of its planned 2,518 residential units.

Source : Straits Times - 15 Feb 2006

Foreigners and permanent residents account for 60% of buyers

Prices for bungalow plots in Sentosa Cove have hit a new high of $500 per square foot, up from the starting price of $260 psf when they were first launched in December 2003. And the buyer of the most expensive piece of land there is a Thai national.

Interestingly, Thais make up only 2 per cent of foreigners who have been snapping up the waterfront properties.

There are 214 bungalow plots in the Northern Precinct of Sentosa Cove and foreigners and Singapore permanent residents currently account for 60 per cent of the buyers.

According to Sentosa Cove Pte Ltd (SCPL), Malaysians form the biggest group of buyers, having so far bought 44 plots (or 23 per cent) out of 193 plots sold.

Indonesians bought 40 plots (21 per cent), followed by the Chinese who bought 27 plots (14 per cent) and the British and Indians who bought 15 plots each (8 per cent).

A mix of other nationals from Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Sweden, Taiwan, the Philippines and Denmark bought the remaining 52 plots.

Bungalow plots in Sentosa Cove have rocketed to $500 psf from the starting price of $260 psf when they were first offered in December 2003.

SCPL chairman Jennie Chua says that the current 60/40 ratio of foreigners to locals is ‘about right’, so any fears of Sentosa Cove becoming an exclusive enclave for foreigners will recede for now.

Still, Sentosa Cove is only expected to have about 10,000 residents in its 2,600 homes (which include the condominium developments there). Visitors, most of whom are tourists, hit 5.1 million in March last year, and projected visitor arrivals for 2008 is eight million.

Giving an indication of the positioning of the island is Sentosa Leisure Group chief executive Darrell Metzger who said: ‘Sentosa is fast gaining international recognition as one of the most exciting leisure destinations in Asia and one that is increasingly appealing to the higher-end tourist and business traveller.’

‘Higher-end’ tourists will also be targeted by the new five-star hotel SCPL hopes will get built at Sentosa Cove.

The hotel is part of a bundle of development sites called the Quayside Collection being offered to any developer, local or foreign, who can come up with the best proposal, on the best terms.

Apart from paying for the land, and coming up with an acceptable concept and design, the developer will also have to pay a percentage of its earnings to Sentosa Leisure Group.

‘All the hotels here pay between 5-15 per cent of its revenue as part of the partnership agreement with us,’ revealed Mr Metzger.

The Quayside Collection is the only commercial site for sale within Sentosa Cove and covers 48,611 square metres.

It will consist of a 320-room five-star hotel, a three-storey waterfront commercial site and land parcels for two six-storey condominium developments next to the hotel.

SCPL highlighted that the hotel and commercial sites are to be key components of the development and potential developers can choose not to buy the residential sites.

However, the residential sites will not be for sale on their own. The hotel and commercial components will have to be open to the public. But being a high-end development, this will nevertheless be a very select group of people.

Source : Business Times - 15 Feb 2006

THE Baywater Collection site at Sentosa Cove has only just been awarded but its new owner, Ho Bee Investment, says it will be ready for launch in the fourth quarter of this year.

Ho Bee general manager (marketing and business development) Chong Hock Chang says prices for the beachfront residential development will be between $1,200 and $1,300 per square foot.

‘It will without a doubt be higher than the earlier projects launched there,’ he says.

Ho Bee bought four other parcels in Sentosa - The Berth By The Cove condo, The Berthside terraced homes, 21 bungalows on Coral Island and 29 on the neighbouring Paradise Island.

Based on the latest data on Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers REALink system, the average price of units at The Berth was about $890 psf in November. REALink data for Centrepoint Properties’ Sentosa Cove property, The Azure, reveal an average price of around $1,100 psf.

Ho Bee says it will build an ‘integrated condominium’ of about 250 units with blocks of six to eight storeys. As the site is elongated, the development is expected to have double frontage to the sea and the waterway.

At 276,467 sq ft, the site, which cost $325.2 million (or $638.62 psf per plot ratio), is the largest of the condominium sites launched at Sentosa Cove. This may explain why Ho Bee has decided to let mainboard-listed Engro Corporation take a 10 per cent stake in Baywater.

Ho Bee says a new company called Ho Bee Cove has been incorporated to see the new development through to completion. Ho Bee Cove will be 90 per cent owned by Ho Bee Investment, with the remainder going to Engro, a cement producer and IT company.

In a separate press statement, Engro said that only Engro chairman/CEO Tan Keng Boon and Ho Bee Group chairman/CEO Chua Thian Poh are directors of both Ho Bee Investment and Engro.

Source : Business Times - 17 Jan 2006

580,000 sq ft plot is slated for condos, retail development and a hotel

(SINGAPORE) Developers keen on getting a piece of the action on Sentosa Cove will soon have a stab at the biggest site offered so far in the upscale housing district.

BT understands that master developer/master planner Sentosa Cove Pte Ltd (SCPL) is about to offer a 583,000 sq ft site dubbed The Quayside Collection, which will essentially comprise five sites designated for condos, retail development and a hotel.

The 99-year leasehold site, which will face the marina, could be sold through an expression-of-interest exercise, and the award is likely to be based on concept/design and price.

The hotel will have up to 320 rooms and be built up to seven storeys on a plot of 183,160 sq ft.

There will be two commercial sites - separated by a small park - that can be developed for three-storey retail use with a total gross floor area of 61,700 sq ft.

The Quayside Collection will also include two sites for condominium development - a 103,400 sq ft plot that can be built into a project with a maximum of 97 units, and a 147,020 sq ft parcel for 139 units. These sites, each with a 1.6 plot ratio - the ratio of potential gross floor area to land area - and a six-storey maximum height, are next to each other, but also separated by a small park. The maximum gross floor area of the hotel, condos and commercial developments will be almost 720,000 sq ft.

Observers suggest it makes sense for SCPL to package sites for hotel and commercial use with condo parcels.

‘Residential development is the main draw for developers at Sentosa Cove,’ a market watcher said.

‘If they had offered just sites for hotel or commercial use, I doubt many developers would be keen, but SCPL has given them a sweetener to bid by packaging two condo parcels within The Quayside Collection site.’

He was referring to the handsome appreciation in residential property values on Sentosa Cove since SCPL began selling land there in late 2003. Prices at which condo plots have been awarded on the island have risen 82 per cent in the past two years.

Ho Bee bagged the first condo site on the island for $351 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr) in late 2003. Last month it is understood to have emerged as top bidder with $640 psf ppr for The Baywater Collection condo site opposite The Quayside Collection site.

When SCPL awards The Quayside Collection site, it would have sold land for about 85 per cent of the total 1,528 homes - condos, bungalows and terrace houses - planned for the Northern Precinct, or North Cove. The other 1,000-odd homes planned for Sentosa Cove will be at South Cove, and SCPL is expected to begin marketing sites there later this year.

Source : Business Times - 6 Jan 2006