http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/...41215,00.html?

Published May 31, 2011

2 freehold residential development sites sold

Austral View in Tanjong Rhu goes for $81m and a Hillview plot, $45m


AT least two freehold residential development sites have been transacted recently. Austral View at Tanjong Rhu, on a 30,540 square foot site, was sold for $81 million through a collective sale to a Chinese developer which last month picked up the adjacent Fortredale.


Changed hands: Austral View was sold through a collective sale to a Chinese developer which last month picked up the adjacent Fortredale

Over in the Hillview area, Roxy-Pacific group's associated company, Mequity (Hillview) Pte Ltd, has inked a deal to buy seven adjoining factories on a total land area of 49,164 sq ft for slightly over $45 million. The price reflects $662 per square foot of potential gross floor area, inclusive of an estimated $17.5 million development charge (DC) for converting the site to residential use with a plot ratio (ratio of maximum gross floor area to land area) of 1.92.

DTZ brokered the deal through private treaty. The seven factory buildings are being sold by different parties.

Roxy-Pacific executive chairman and CEO Teo Hong Lim told BT yesterday that the group hopes to redevelop the site into a 10-storey condo with a mix of unit types - including one-bedroom-plus-study units, two bedders and some three bedders.

This will be Roxy's second project in the area. At Toh Tuck Road, the group is developing Nottinghill Suites on the former Toh Tuck Apartments site, which could go on the market around late June. This five-storey development, also a joint venture, will have 124 units, including one-bedroom-plus-study units (starting from 398 sq ft) and two-bedroom-plus-study units. Market watchers expect the average price to cross $1,300 per square foot.

'Supply in the Hillview area was saturated for many years, but demand should be coming back. There's a dearth of new freehold developments in the location,' said Mr Teo.

Austral View's sale is subject to approval from the Strata Titles Board. CB Richard Ellis brokered the sale of the property, which works out to $1,342 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) inclusive of an estimated DC of slightly over $5 million. The unit land price is the same as that achieved for next-door Fortredale, which was transacted at $65 million.

If amalgamated, the two freehold sites will result in a total freehold land area of 53,560 sq ft - sufficient for a new condo development of about 108 units averaging 1,000 sq ft. Both the Fortredale and Austral View sites are zoned for residential use with a 2.1 plot ratio and 24-storey maximum height under Master Plan 2008.