http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/spec...-sale-20131001

Published October 01, 2013

Three residential sites up for collective sale

Owners of two plots looking to sell them collectively for $30m

By Felda Chay [email protected]


[SINGAPORE] Three residential plots are up for sale by tender, with one located at the Kim Yam Road-River Valley Road junction and the other two sitting off Yio Chu Kang Road.

This is the fourth time that Riviera Point, a 33-unit residential development along River Valley, has been launched for collective sale by public tender. Its owners are now asking for offers in excess of $68 million - or $1,379 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) - for the 14,580-sq-ft plot, which has a gross plot ratio of 3.38, according to marketing agent Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL).

In late 2011, Riviera Point's owners were asking for $70 million, or $1,420 psf ppr. The property was being marketed by Knight Frank then, and that was the last time its owners had tried to do a collective sale.

The land is zoned "residential". The existing development is a 12-storey apartment block built in the early 1990s and has an as-built gross floor area of 49,303 sq ft, or an equivalent plot ratio of 3.38.

Developers can potentially build 100 units of one or two-bedroom units on the site, said Nicholas Ng, local director of investments at JLL. "Other than redeveloping the site immediately, potential buyers may also choose to refurbish the existing development and apply for conversion to serviced apartments, subject to approval from the relevant authorities given that the building has been built to its maximum gross floor area potential," added Mr Ng.

He noted that there have been very few development sites available for sale within the Central Area over the last year. The last one was the URA's Mount Sophia site which was hotly contested earlier last month, he said.

Since Chateau Eliza at Mount Elizabeth was sold at $1,743 psf ppr in September 2012, there has not been a freehold site available for en bloc sale in District 9.

Situated near Somerset MRT Station, Riviera Point's accessibility has also been enhanced with the announcement of the Thomson Line, which will be within walking distance from the site. The new line will have an entrance to Great World MRT Station, which is accessible from River Valley Road. Fort Canning MRT Station is also estimated to be up and running in 2017.

The tender for Riviera Point closes on Oct 31 at 2.30pm.

The owners of the two freehold landed residential sites located off Yio Chu Kang Road are looking to sell them collectively for $30 million. This translates to a cost of $920 psf of land area for the vacant sites, which are located at Tung Po Avenue and have a total land area of about 32,606 sq ft.

Marketing agent Colliers International said the plots are being sold collectively because one lot alone is more than 32,000 sq ft, while the other is a much smaller plot akin to a splay corner. Under the 2008 Master Plan, the sites are zoned for "residential - three-storey mixed landed" use.

Tang Wei Leng, executive director of investment services at Colliers, said: "Private landed residential sites are rarely made available for sale. Hence, these two land parcels offer an opportunity for boutique developers to invest in a reasonably sized plot of land at attractive pricing."

She added that the site can accommodate 15 conventional terrace houses, each 3,600 sq ft in size. Alternatively, around 20 units of cluster terrace homes with areas ranging from 3,500 sq ft to 3,800 sq ft can sit on the two plots of land.

The two sites are located in a residential neighbourhood which comprises mainly landed and cluster housing, with CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School located within a one-kilometre radius. The tender for the two sites closes on Oct 31 at 2pm.