Published July 20, 2007
PROPERTY FOCUS
Tulip Garden sold for $516 million
By KALPANA RASHIWALA
TULIP Garden in the Holland Road area has been sold for $516 million or about $1,018 per square foot of potential gross floor area. No development charge is payable on the site.
Collective sale: A unit of Bravo Building Construction bought Tulip Garden, located in the Holland Road area, for $1,018 psf of potential gross floor area
The buyer is a unit of Bravo Building Construction, a five-year-old construction and property development business. Bravo is expected to team up with a local private equity partner for the acquisition.
Bravo's breakeven cost for a new condo on the 316,709 sq ft site is estimated at around $1,500 psf, the company's managing director Jenny Pang told BT. 'We plan to develop the site into a new luxury condo with about 290 to 316 apartments with sizes ranging from 1,600 to 2,000 sq ft.'
'Under the current scenario, a new 12-storey project on the site would be able to sell at $2,000 psf average,' Ms Pang added. The project should be launch-ready around Q2 next year.
Savills (Singapore) brokered the collective sale of Tulip Garden through private treaty after the tender for the site closed on June 12.
The $1,018 psf per plot ratio fetched for the freehold Tulip Garden is in line with recent land transactions in the area. In April, the nearby Leedon Heights, also freehold, was sold for $1,062 psf per plot ratio. Market watchers regard Leedon to be a superior site as it is in a quieter location away from the main road and boasts unblocked views of good class bungalows.
Late last month, the leasehold Farrer Court was sold for $762-783 psf ppr. The Farrer Court site has a higher plot ratio of 2.8 and maximum height of 36 storeys, compared with Tulip Garden and Leedon Heights, with a 1.6 plot ratio and 12-storey maximum height.
Tulip Garden currently has 164 units comprising 96 apartments, 66 maisonettes and two shophouses. Their owners will receive proceeds of $2.5 million to $4.2 million per apartment, $3.4 million to $3.5 million per maisonette, and $1.1 million per shop unit.
In June this year, a maisonette in the development changed hands at $3.4 million. The seller had consented to the collective sale, and BT understands from Savills that the collective sale agreement (CSA) requires the new owner to also sign the CSA at the agreed reserve price.
The new owner is expected to receive 'marginally more' from the en-bloc sale than the sum he paid for, according to Savills director of investment sales Steven Ming.
Another maisonette in the development was sold in May for $2.48 million.
The sale of Tulip Garden is subject to approval from the Strata Titles Board. To date, owners controlling more than 80 per cent of share values in the development have signed the collective sale agreement.
Earlier this month, Bravo Building Construction purchased the freehold Pender Court - off West Coast Highway and near the Caribbean and Reflections at Keppel Bay condos - for $80 million or about $872 psf ppr. The company has bought more than a dozen sites in Singapore since September last year. These include Castle Court at Changi Road, Regent Court in Serangoon, and Koon Seng House in the Still Road area.