The Meyer Place hits the market

Sale expected to open the floodgates for collective sales in desirable east coast area

05:55 AM Sep 24, 2009

by Esther Fung esther@mediacorp.com.sg

THE collective sale property market fervour has now moved beyond the mass market segment and into the high-end luxury market. The latest en-bloc site to hit the market yesterday was The Meyer Place, located in up-market Meyer Road in the East Coast area, a favourite among expatriates here.

The Meyer Place currently holds 28 units in a seafront location on a freehold land area of 28,167 square feet (sq ft). Cushman & Wakefield, the marketing agent for the sale, believes that with the recovering economy, residents can expect to collect between $2.2 million and $2.4 million per unit.

Although the land site is much smaller than what another East Coast seafront condo offered for en-bloc sale earlier this month, Laguna Park, it is expected to be hotly contested among developers as it has a smaller price tag and the potential to attract high-end clientele, analysts said.

The en-bloc sale of The Meyer Place is also expected to open the floodgates for more collective sales in the area. A market observer said there is talk that residents in nearby Meyer Park, Amber Park and Kings Mansion may also be in the process of collecting signatures for an en-bloc deal.

Other residents living in condos in the vicinity are also reported to be keen on a collective sale for their apartments.

A resident at Peach Garden condominium, just 1 km away from The Meyer Place, told Today "Most of us would like to. It depends on the right timing and offer price."

According to Cushman & Wakefield, the District 15 site is expected to fetch $65 million.

Based on a 2.1 plot ratio and a potential development charge payment of $3 million, this works out to about $1,100 per sq ft (psf) per plot ratio.

"Sites costing less than $100 million provide a comfortable 'entry level' for developers, and there are already a few foreign developers currently evaluating the property," said Mr Donald Han, managing director of Cushman & Wakefield.

Credo's deputy managing director Tan Hong Boon said, "The site is in a popular district, and the price seems reasonable if the economy remains on the recovery track."

Analysts said the site is targeted at the high-end market, as the area is well known for its luxury developments. One analyst, who declined to be named, said the breakeven price for the new development is estimated to be close to $1,800 psf, and the new units could be priced around $2,000 psf.

According to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), another development in that area, Parc Seabreeze, transacted at $1,362 to $1,500 psf in August. Meanwhile, units at Silversea at Marine Parade, were sold at $1,255 to $1,576 psf.

The Meyer Place also houses a conservation 3-storey mansion, which used to be the residence of the late rubber tycoon and philanthropist Tan Lark Sye.

It is now used as a condo clubhouse and the succesful developer would have to comply with conservation guidelines if any redevelopment work is planned for the mansion.

"Keeping the conservation house should not pose a problem, since the existing condo could co-exist with it," said Mr Tan.

The collective sale tender exercise for the property will close on Oct 28.

 

ARA Asset completes acquisition of Suntec Convention Centre
Written by Bloomberg
Wednesday, 30 September 2009 21:25
ARA Asset Management, part of Li Ka-Shing’s Cheung Kong group of companies, said it completed the $235 million acquisition of Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre. The ARA Harmony Fund is a joint venture with Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust and other private investors, ARA Asset said in a statement to the Singapore stock exchange today. Suntec Reit funded its 20% investment in ARA through US$25 million ($35.4 million) three-year fixed-rate notes with an interest rate of 3.55% per annum, due Sept 2012, Suntec Reit and ARA said in a joint statement issued to the exchange.  Suntec Singapore has 1 million square feet of floor space in Singapore’s downtown Marina Bay area.

 

CapLand to unveil 2 more home launches

One is on the former Gillman Heights site; the other is in Cairnhill.

By Uma Shankari

SINGAPORE'S largest property developer CapitaLand is set to roll out two more residential launches this year - the 1,040-unit The Interlace on the site of the former Gillman Heights, and a 165-apartment luxury project in Cairnhill Road on the site of the former Char Yong Gardens.

The company yesterday unveiled the design for the The Interlace, which it is developing with Hotel Properties Ltd. The project will cost about $1.4 billion all up, including the $548 million - or $363 per sq ft of potential gross floor area - paid for Gillman Heights in 2007

Prices could start from about $700,000 for a two-bedroom apartment, CapitaLand said. The project will be launched next month.

The Interlace was designed by Ole Scheeren, a partner at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture - the firm behind the design of the distinct 54-storey China Central Television Station headquarters in Beijing. For The Interlace, Mr Scheeren wanted to break away from the standard kind of residential project in Singapore comprising a cluster of isolated, vertical towers.

Instead, the design for The Interlace explores a new take on tropical living with an expansive and interconnected network of communal spaces. Thirty-one apartment blocks, each six stories tall, will be stacked in a hexagonal arrangement to form eight large-scale courtyards. The interlocking blocks will resemble a 'vertical village' with cascading sky gardens and private and public roof terraces.

'This is a great opportunity to create and build a residential destination at the Gillman Heights site that will challenge the present architectural definition of the living space,' said Patricia Chia, chief executive of CapitaLand Residential Singapore.

The Interlace will offer a variety of homes, from two and three-bedroom units to penthouses, when sales start in October. CapitaLand declined to say how the apartments will be priced in psf terms, but said that the construction cost for The Interlace will be around $250-$270 psf.

It added that it will not be 'greedy' when it comes to the profit margin it is looking for and that homes will be 'affordable'. Analysts have previously estimated a breakeven cost of around $750 psf for the site, with an average selling price of $900 psf.

The next launch for CapitaLand is the 165-unit freehold condominium at the former Char Yong Gardens, which will be rolled out before the end of this year. The project, designed by Kerry Hill Architects, will be a luxury development, said CapitaLand chief executive Liew Mun Leong.

CapitaLand bought Char Yong Gardens for $1,788 psf of potential gross floor area, including development charges payable to the state, at the height of the property boom in 2007.

More launches are planned for 2010, including one at Farrer Road on the former Farrer Court site. CapitaLand forked out a record $1.3 billion for that site in a collective sale in 2007.

However, the en bloc market is unlikely to rebound to such levels again in the near future, Mr Liew said. The Laguna Park development on the East Coast is currently being offered for $1.2 billion, which would be the second-highest price ever for such a transaction.

Mr Liew said: 'Given the cost of the land, given the construction cost and given the demand, it is too early for developers to confidently say the world economy has recovered and there will be buyers who can afford the price.'

He also said that a 5 to 15 per cent increase in private home prices here would be 'reasonable' given pent-up demand and the low interest rates. '(But) if it jumps 30 per cent, then I will be a little bit concerned about whether it is sensible,' he added.

Private home sales in Singapore jumped 52 per cent month-on-month in July to 2,767 units. A record 1,825 units were sold in June - but that number was easily surpassed just a month later. And prices are beginning to edge up. New projects released in recent weeks have been priced higher than in early 2009.

Source: The Business Times – September 5, 2009