PDA

View Full Version : Far East, Orchard Parade buy Bassein Road residential plots



mr funny
16-09-10, 07:00
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/companies/story/0,4574,403327-1284148740,00.html?

Published September 10, 2010

Far East, Orchard Parade buy Bassein Road residential plots

By KALPANA RASHIWALA


FAR East Organization and its listed unit Orchard Parade Holdings have clinched their second residential development site this week. The duo will buy Pastoral View (through a collective sale) and the next door plot being sold by OCBC for a total of $122 million.

This works out to a unit land price of about $847 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) inclusive of a marginal development charge (DC) payable for OCBC's plot at 11 Bassein Road. No DC is payable for Pastoral View, at 7 Bassein Road. The two freehold sites have a combined land area of 51,395 sq ft and can be redeveloped into a new condo with about 140 units averaging 1,000 sq ft. The District 11 properties near Novena MRT Station are zoned for residential use with a 2.8 plot ratio and 36-storey allowable height under Master Plan 2008.

Market watchers estimate the breakeven cost for a new condo on the site could be around $1,300 psf. In July, City Developments released its 368 Thomson freehold condo at an average price of about $1,350 psf.

'The raft of cooling measures introduced by the government has resulted in some developers turning cautious but many are still keen on prime freehold land parcels with good attributes that are difficult to come by,' said Tan Hong Boon, deputy managing director of Credo Real Estate. The company handled the sale of the two properties through a tender which closed last month, attracting a handful of submissions.

Credo did not give a split of the $122 million between Pastoral View and the plot sold by OCBC. However, Mr Tan said Pastoral View's reserve price has been met. Pastoral View's sale is subject to approval of the Strata Titles Board as owners' unanimous consent has not been secured. Owners of Pastoral View's 50 units stand to receive gross sale proceeds ranging from slightly over $1 million for studio apartments to $4.37 million for the penthouse. These sums are 80-90 per cent more than what the units would have sold for individually, according to Mr Tan.

Earlier this week, Far East and OPH clinched a 99-year leasehold plot at Jalan Eunos at a state tender on which they plan to develop a five-storey condo project that will incorporate some townhouses. Their winning bid of $414.57 psf ppr was 26.5 per cent above the next highest offer.

OPH said yesterday it will be taking stakes of 20 per cent in the Jalan Eunos site and 30 per cent in the Bassein Road properties.

mr funny
16-09-10, 07:51
http://www.straitstimes.com/Money/Story/STIStory_576846.html

Sep 10, 2010

Far East buys Pastoral View, adjoining site for $122m

By Joyce Teo


OWNERS of a Novena condominium have sold their homes en bloc in a deal that will reap them almost twice the market value of the flats.

Studio apartment owners at the Pastoral View in Bassein Road stand to receive gross sale proceeds of just over $1 million while the owner of the penthouse could get as much as $4.37 million under the deal announced yesterday.

That is a collective sale premium of about 80 per cent to 90 per cent over current market values, said Credo Real Estate, which brokered the sale.

It is a case of second-time lucky for Pastoral View owners, who tried to sell en bloc in early 2008 but failed after the market turned for the worse.

Two units of giant developer Far East Organization joined forces to buy the Pastoral View site and an adjoining plot owned by OCBC Bank for a total outlay of $122 million. The price for the two pieces of freehold land, which were sold as a single plot, was well below the asking price of between $130 million and $150 million.

The sale price translates to a land rate of about $847 per sq ft per plot ratio, based on an allowable gross plot ratio of 2.8. This includes a modest development charge for the vacant plot at 11, Bassein Road. No development charge is payable for the 10-storey Pastoral View.

The sites are near Novena MRT station and have a total land area of 51,395 sq ft. It can be built up to 143,906 sq ft of gross floor area and a height of 36 storeys.

Credo said the combined plots can accommodate a high-rise tower with 140 condominium units of about 1,000 sq ft on average.

Credo's deputy managing director, Mr Tan Hong Boon, said Pastoral View was sold at its reserve price, which was about 10 per cent above the valuation price.

The tender for the estate and the adjoining site closed two weeks ago, before the Government introduced measures to cool the property market on Aug 30.

'The raft of cooling measures introduced by the Government has resulted in some developers turning cautious but many are still keen on prime freehold land parcels with good attributes that are difficult to come by,' said Mr Tan.

Tuas Technology Park, which is controlled by the estate of Ng Teng Fong and Orchard Parade Holdings' OPH Marymount, earlier this week successfully tendered for a site in Jalan Eunos.

They paid $257.78 million or $415 per sq ft (psf) per plot ratio, which was 26 per cent above the next bid.