BS Capital launches Lumiere preview

Property
Published December 19, 2006

BS Capital launches Lumiere preview
Market watchers expect prices to match CityDev's One Shenton


By KALPANA RASHIWALA


FOLLOWING the weekend sale of all but 15 of the 175 freehold condos at The Sixth Avenue Residences developed by Keppel Land and Singapore Land, BS Capital yesterday opened the showflat for its Lumiere development off Shenton Way.


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Lumiere: The 45-storey development will comprise 168 residential units and four street-level shops or restaurants


BS Capital chief executive Chin Teck Chuan said yesterday that sales are likely to begin this week, but pricing has not been finalised. Prices at The Sixth Avenue Residences averaged about $1,000 per square foot (psf).

Some agents who brought their clients to the showflat at Mistri Road yesterday were overheard saying that prices in the 99-year leasehold project could be in excess of $1,500 psf.

Lumiere's pricing is also expected to be pegged to that for City Developments' One Shenton apartments as both projects are expected to compete for a similar pool of buyers, market watchers say.

Some agents are touting One Shenton for preview this week, but there is no official word so far from CityDev.

BS Capital is developing Lumiere on the HMC Building site it bought last year. The 45-storey development will comprise 168 residential units and four street-level shops or restaurants.

Lumiere's sole penthouse will be around 5,100 sq ft. The rest of the apartments will be smallish units - studios, one-bedroom (plus study) apartments, and two-bedders.

Market watchers think that given Lumiere's smallish units, the absolute investment will be relatively small - which suggests that speculators might make a beeline for the project when BS Capital begins sales.

This will be especially the case following spillover demand from those who missed out on buying Marina Bay Residences last week.

Over at Sixth Avenue, Keppel Land and SingLand began selling their five storey project, The Sixth Avenue Residences, on Friday last week.

The project is being marketed by CB Richard Ellis and DTZ Debenham Tie Leung. The condo will be developed on the Avenue Park site that Keppel Land bought in April 1997.

In November 2001, Keppel Land wrote down the site's value to $366 psf per plot ratio (ppr) as part of a $455 million writedown of its landbank.

In March this year, SingLand took a 48 per cent interest in the property for $53.8 million, or $463 psf ppr. The stake had been formerly held by ComfortDelGro, which said at the time it had sold its stake to Keppel Land for $54.9 million. The March deal valued the 172,820 sq ft freehold site at $112 million, or $463 psf ppr.