Koh Brothers targets Kovan condo at HDB upgraders

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April 24, 2009 Friday

Koh Brothers targets Kovan condo at HDB upgraders

By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent

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The five-storey Fiorenza, which features an Italian theme, will have an imported glass jacuzzi on all the balconies. -- PHOTO: KOH BROTHERS

KOH Brothers Group hopes to tempt HDB upgraders with the release of a small Kovan project this weekend while it holds off launching high-end properties until the time is ripe.

The freehold Fiorenza in Florence Road has 28 units and will be priced at $790 per sq ft, or between $749,000 and $1.2 million per unit.

There are two- and three-bedroom units ranging from 840 to 1,442 sq ft in the five-storey block as well as penthouses of 1,378 to 1,851 sq ft each.

In the same area, the 521-unit Kovan Residences, which is nearer the Kovan MRT station than Fiorenza, still has unlaunched units. The 99-year leasehold project went for about $880 psf last year but those levels have since been cut. Last month, 56 units were sold at a median price of $705 psf.

Koh Brothers is offering the interest absorption scheme at a 2 per cent premium for Fiorenza.

Chief executive and managing director Francis Koh said the project would feature a glass jacuzzi imported from Italy on all the balconies. Each unit will also get a multi-room digital music system.

Koh Brothers had planned to release Fiorenza in the second quarter of last year. It was also hoping to launch the high-end Lincoln Suites off Newton Road by early this year, but the market has not been in its favour.

With high-end demand still muted, the launch is unlikely anytime soon.

Mr Koh said the consortium would continue to lease out Lincoln Lodge - which is the site for Lincoln Suites - right into next year. It had, together with Heeton Holdings, KSH Holdings and Lian Beng Group, bought Lincoln Lodge at the height of the property boom in 2007 for $1,449.30 psf per plot ratio.

Koh Brothers has other development projects in the pipeline which it is holding until an appropriate time.

'The market may change very quickly. It can go up quickly, it can also come down quickly,' said Mr Koh.