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mr funny
28-03-10, 02:55
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/news/story/0,4574,378449-1269633540,00.html?

Published March 26, 2010

Hong Leong sells Marina House for $148m

By KALPANA RASHIWALA


(SINGAPORE) Hong Leong Group has inked a deal to sell Marina House at Shenton Way for $148 million, BT understands.

The buyer is believed to be a group led by niche property developer and investor Melvin Poh. Members of his consortium are said to include Victor Soh of Fortune Development.

Market watchers suggest that Mr Poh, who also led the purchase of three ageing CBD office blocks last year with an eye to redeveloping them into residential use, probably has the same intention for Marina House.

The 21-storey office block is on a site with a remaining lease of nearly 60 years.

The $148 million purchase price reflects about $1,130 per square foot based on the building's existing net lettable area of about 130,000 sq ft. The building has a few tenants (the most prominent being Indian Airlines) but is substantially vacant - probably a deliberate strategy on the part of Hong Leong Group as it weighed various options, including the possibility of redeveloping the site into residential use.

In the end, market watchers suggest Hong Leong may have decided it made more sense to sell the property, and leave the redevelopment potential to the next owner, rather than get bogged down with having to seek approval from the authorities to top up the site's lease to a fresh 99-year term.

In the past few years, the authorities have turned down a few applications for lease top-ups in conjunction with redevelopment proposals in the CBD, according to earlier reports.

Just a stone's throw away from Marina House, Hong Leong Group secured approval to redevelop another of its office blocks (the former Ong Building) into apartments, which also entailed a lease upgrade. This 39-storey project, 76 Shenton, went on the market on Wednesday and the 202-unit development was sold out by yesterday evening, achieving prices ranging from about $1,600 psf to $2,600 psf.

Under Master Plan 2008, Marina House is zoned for commercial use with an 8.4 plot ratio (ratio of maximum potential gross floor area to land area). By some estimates, the $148 million purchase price could reflect a unit land cost of $1,050 psf of potential gross floor area, inclusive of a lease-upgrading premium assuming the authorities approve a lease top-up.

Some analysts suggest that a differential premium may not be payable if a conversion of the site's use to residential use is allowed, as the building's existing gross floor area already surpasses the Master Plan plot ratio.

Marina House was spruced up a few years ago. It was sold through a private treaty deal, believed to have been brokered by DTZ.

Last year, Mr Poh's Fission Group teamed up with Yi Kai Group to buy Aviva Building in Cecil Street and the next-door Cecil House for a total of $101 million, in a Jones Lang LaSalle-brokered deal.

The two partners also picked up VTB Building in Robinson Road for $71 million. That deal was brokered by DTZ.

mr funny
05-04-10, 18:19
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/latest/story/0,4574,379838,00.html?

April 5, 2010, 5.23 pm (Singapore time)

Roxy-Pacific joins group to buy Marina House for S$148 mln

By UMA SHANKARI


Roxy-Pacific Holdings on Monday said that it has a 20 per cent stake in the consortium that has agreed to buy Marina House at 70 Shenton Way from Hong Leong Group for some S$148.0 million.

Roxy-Pacific took a 20 per cent stake in the consortium started by Melvin Poh of Fission Group. Besides Roxy-Pacific and Fission Holdings, the other three shareholders in the consortium are Macly Capital, Pinnacle Assets and Mr Chee Hsian Sing.

The consortium plans to convert Marina House into a residential-commercial mixed development. The prime site has obtained planning permission for the proposed erection of a 42-storey residential apartment block with commercial space on the first storey.

mr funny
06-04-10, 14:43
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/companies/story/0,4574,379881,00.html?

Published April 6, 2010

Roxy-Pacific takes stake in group buying Marina House

Consortium seeks to increase saleable area of proposed residential project

By KALPANA RASHIWALA


ROXY-PACIFIC Holdings has taken a 20 per cent stake in the consortium started by Melvin Poh of Fission Group which recently signed a deal to buy Marina House at Shenton Way for $148 million.

BT reported the sale of Marina House late last month.

Besides Roxy-Pacific and Fission Holdings, the other three shareholders in the consortium are Macly Capital, Pinnacle Assets and Chee Hsian Sing.

Mr Chee, an architect by training, has been involved in several joint developments with Fission Group. Macly Group was set up by its managing director, Herman Chang, a civil engineer by training. Macly's property developments include Thomson V and Newton Edge. Pinnacle Assets, set up in 2007, is headed by Victor Soh, a partner in Fortune Development.

All five shareholders in the consortium buying Marina House hold an equal stake of 20 per cent each.

Marina House is being sold by Hong Leong Group, which in February this year, obtained provisional permission to redevelop the property into a 42-storey block comprising about 150 apartments and ground-floor commercial space.

The site has a balance lease term of about 60 years. However, the state has yet to agree to top up the site's lease to a fresh 99-year term.

The $148 million purchase price works out to about $970 per square foot of potential gross floor area inclusive of an estimated $30 million payment to the state if it agrees to upgrade the site's lease.

The $970 per square foot per plot ratio unit land price takes into account 10 per cent additional gross floor area (GFA) allowed for balcony space. A differential premium is not payable for the residential conversion based on Sept 1, 2009 development charge rates as the provisional permission was secured before the revision in DC rates that took effect from March 1, 2010.

The proposed GFA inclusive of the 10 per cent balcony allowance would be lower than the building's existing GFA.

Once the purchase is completed, the consortium will review the scheme for the proposed project. 'We will seek to increase the saleable area and possibly increase the number of units. We'll also have to do the detailed designing,' said Roxy-Pacific executive chairman and CEO Teo Hong Lim.

'On a worst-case scenario, assuming the authorities don't approve a lease upgrade on the site (and we hence don't redevelop the site to residential use), the purchase price of the existing commercial space is below current replacement cost. The $148 million works out to about $740 psf based on existing GFA of nearly 200,000 sq ft. There is scope to increase the lettable area,' said Mr Teo.

Based on Marina House's existing net lettable area of about 130,000 sq ft, the $148 million price works out to about $1,130 psf.

DTZ brokered the sale of Marina House.

Mr Poh clinched the option to buy Marina House just days before the preview of 76 Shenton nearby. The 202 apartments were sold out in two days at prices ranging from about $1,600 psf to $2,600 psf. Hong Leong Group is developing the apartments on the former Ong Building after securing a lease upgrade on the site.

Last year, Fission teamed up with Yi Kai to buy the freehold VTB Building along Robinson Road for $71 million. They are also partners in the purchase of Aviva Building in Cecil Street and the next-door Cecil House for a total of $101 million.

Mr Poh told BT yesterday that a 37-storey residential project (with shops on the ground floor) on the VTB Building site is slated for launch by the third quarter of this year.

mr funny
06-04-10, 15:06
http://www.straitstimes.com/Money/Story/STIStory_510925.html

Apr 6, 2010

Marina House sold for $148m

Five-party consortium plans to convert CBD property into apartment block with shops

By Fiona Chan


FOUR property firms and an architect have joined hands to buy a prime office building in the Central Business District (CBD) and convert it into apartments.

They paid $148 million for Marina House at 70 Shenton Way, according to a press release from one of the companies yesterday.

Roxy-Pacific Holdings said it has formed a consortium with Macly Capital, Pinnacle Assets, Fission Holdings and architect Chee Hsian Sing to buy the building. Each party will have a 20 per cent share in the purchase.

The property was sold by Hong Leong Group for a touch below the original price of $153 million it paid for the building in 1994.

The buyers of Marina House plan to convert it into a 42-storey residential block of apartments with shops on the first storey. The building now has a 17-storey office tower and a four-storey podium.

Mr Teo Hong Lim, executive chairman and chief executive of Roxy-Pacific, said he is confident the redeveloped Marina House 'will be very much sought after'.

The supply of residential apartments in the prime CBD area is limited, he said, especially when compared to the suburban mass market sites being released for sale by the Government.

Colliers International executive director of investment sales Ho Eng Joo also said Marina House's location on the fringe of Tanjong Pagar means it could benefit from the buzz surrounding the redevelopment of the area.

Apartments in the CBD have seen healthy demand in recent months. At 76 Shenton, down the road from Marina House, all 202 units in the project were sold out in two days last month at prices ranging from $1,600 to $2,600 per sq ft (psf).

That development, also owned by Hong Leong Group, was similarly converted from an office block into a 39-storey apartment block.

On whether too many cooks in the consortium would spoil the broth, Mr Teo said all the property developers involved are small or mid-sized firms that go back a long way and use similar architects.

'We are also positioning for the future,' he said. 'Sites are going to get bigger and they are limited, so rather than compete with one another for the same site, we can work together.'

Roxy-Pacific owns Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel in Marine Parade and has developed a string of boutique condominiums in the East Coast.

Macly, Pinnacle and Fission are also boutique developers, with projects such as Thomson V in Upper Thomson, RV Edge in River Valley and Alexis in Alexandra Road respectively under their belts. Mr Chee, an architect with more than 20 years' experience, has been involved in several joint developments with Fission.

Marina House has a gross floor area of 199,691 sq ft and 60 years remaining on its original 99-year lease. The buyers will have to pay an upgrading premium to top up the lease and a differential premium to convert the building from office to residential use, but they said these amounts were 'minimal'. This is because Hong Leong had received provisional permission to redevelop the office building into apartments in February, before development charges were hiked last month, said Mr Teo.

The purchase price works out to about $1,050 psf per plot ratio, based on an estimated $30 million for the upgrading premium and a total floor area of about 165,000 sq ft for the new building.

Separately, City Developments, a unit of Hong Leong Group, said yesterday it has sold another 10 per cent of the 56 units released at The Residences at W Singapore in Sentosa Cove. This brings the total number of units sold to 20.

Property giant CapitaLand also said yesterday it has sold another 110 apartments in its Interlace development in Alexandra Road since it started a second phase of sales last Friday. Prices of the units sold ranged from $850 to $1,300 psf. To date, about 81 per cent of the 490 units released at The Interlace have been sold. The project has 1,040 units.

[email protected]

jc
06-04-10, 16:08
Can anyone enlighten why HL sold at a loss for this place, despite receiving provisional permission to redevelop the office building into apts in Feb b4 higher DC charges kicking in, AND 76 Shenton opposite sold out at bet $1600 & $2600psf & also estimated purchase px is $1050psf ppr? Why give up opportunity to make $ or is it something i missed? Tks :)