Lippo buys Aura Park for $55.5m

Published April 19, 2007

Aura Park on Holland Road up for sale by tender


AURA Park, a 20-year-old residential development on Holland Road, is for sale by tender. The 35,724 sq ft site, with a 1.4 plot ratio, has an indicative price of $55 million or $1,100 psf ppr, including a development charge of about $8.5 million.

Savills Singapore, which is marketing the site, estimates the breakeven price for a new project at $1,550-$1,650 psf, depend on positioning. 'The site is near the Holland Park Good Class Bungalow (GCB) area, so one can capitalise on that to develop luxurious apartments with unblocked panoramic views of the estate,' said Savills director of investment Steven Ming. Based on the permissible gross floor area of about 50,000 sq ft, a development of 28 units of about 1,800 sq ft each can be built.

On the other side of Holland Road, 12 units at the 34-unit Botanika were sold by auction for $1,710-$2,420 psf this month.

The average price was reported to be $2,040 psf. It is understood that Botanika is fully sold.

How come they can post up a for sale by tender if they do not have 80% agreement yet?

Published June 18, 2007

Lippo buys Aura Park for $55.5m

By KALPANA RASHIWALA


(SINGAPORE) Lippo Realty has bought Aura Park at Holland Road near the Botanic Gardens for $55.5 million or about $1,280 per square foot (psf) of potential gross floor area - a fresh high for the location.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/mnt/...17_06_2007.jpg
New high: Lippo's price of about $1,280 psf ppr is a fresh high for the location

The price is inclusive of development charges (DC) estimated at $8.5 million, but this is subject to verification of the site's development baseline.

The collective sale of the 35,724-sq-ft freehold site was brokered by Savills Singapore, which is also marketing Tulip Garden nearby. The property consultancy declined to give an update on negotiations for Tulip Garden, whose tender closed last week. Negotiations are currently under way for the 316,709-sq-ft site which has a 1.6 plot ratio and an estimated $30 million DC.

Aura Park, which is about 20 years old, is a four-storey development with 28 existing units. Aura Park is zoned for residential use with a 1.4 plot ratio (ratio of maximum potential gross floor area to land area) and a four-storey maximum height.

Market watchers reckon Lippo's breakeven cost for a new high-end apartment project could hit around $1,900 to $2,000 psf, depending on just how posh the new project is. 'We've not worked out the details, but we're looking at a luxury boutique development which we should be able to launch sometime next year,' Lippo Realty executive director Thio Gim Hock said when contacted by BT.

Aura Park is almost opposite Tuan Sing's Botanika development, where it sold 12 units through auction in April, at prices ranging from $1,710 psf to $2,420 psf. The average price achieved was $2,040 psf.

Next to Aura Park is Carlton Terrace, which Bukit Sembawang bought in late 2005 for $541 psf per plot ratio (ppr). The most recent transaction in the area involved Leedon Heights, which was sold in April for $835 million or $1,062 psf ppr. The site has a 1.6 plot ratio and 12-storey maximum height. Another nearby collective sale was that of Holland Crest, which was bought by BBR Holdings for $70.6 million or $837 psf ppr, in March.

(SINGAPORE) The $162.8 million collective sale of Makeway View in the Newton area to an associate of Bravo Building Construction has been rescinded.

BT understands that the one per cent of purchase price paid by Bravo so far has been forfeited.

A Bravo spokeswoman told BT yesterday that it had earlier sought payment extensions to ascertain the quantum of development charge (DC) payable.

Confirming the move to rescind the sale, she added: 'We decided not to proceed with the Makeway deal as the actual DC turned out to be higher than what we had been told. So the breakeven price would end up being much higher than what we expected. That's why my partner (in the proposed acquisition) decided not to proceed further.'

She confirmed that the initial information about the DC did not come from Knight Frank, which was the marketing agent representing the owners of Makeway View.

The $162.8 million deal for Makeway View announced in early November last year, reflected a unit land price of about $1,583 psf ppr including an estimated $21.5 million DC at the time.

Bravo group was one of the biggest buyers of collective sale sites last year, with deals like Tulip Garden for $516 million. Bravo formed separate associate companies for the acquisitions of the various collective sales sites, as the plan was to have different partners for each project.

A Bravo associate has so far paid the initial 5 per cent deposit on Tulip Garden, amounting to about $25 million.

Tulip Garden's collective sale was approved by STB in late February and the Bravo associate was supposed to have made the second 5 per cent payment shortly after that. However, it requested for an extension on this till early April.

Bravo's spokeswoman said her company is seeking a further extension to early June to pay this sum and to also extend the completion deadline for the deal from late May currently to early August.

'We need time to sort out an agreement with our partner and at the same time, sort out the financing arrangement.'

Tulip Garden's owners are expected to meet this weekend to decide whether to give the payment extensions. Tulip Garden's price works out to $1,018 psf per plot ratio price (no DC is payable).