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Thread: Golf club to make way for high-speed rail terminus

  1. #1
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    Default Golf club to make way for high-speed rail terminus

    http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/...nus-20150512#1

    Golf club to make way for high-speed rail terminus

    Hotels and retail facilities will also come up on Jurong Country Club land

    Published on May 12, 2015 1:44 AM

    By Jessica Lim


    JURONG Country Club will have to make way for the terminus of the high-speed rail (HSR) which will link Singapore to Kuala Lumpur.

    Spelling out project details yesterday, the authorities confirmed that the club will have to give up its 67ha plot - the size of more than 80 football fields - by November next year.

    The terminus will sit about 600m from the current Jurong East MRT station. It will account for some 12ha, or about 20 per cent, of the site, which is bordered by the Ayer Rajah Expressway and Jurong Town Hall Road.

    The remaining area will be redeveloped into a mixed-use precinct including offices, hotels, retail, family entertainment facilities and possibly residential units.

    The Urban Redevelopment Authority's chief executive, Mr Ng Lang, said the site was chosen for its size, its connectivity with public transport and proximity to Jurong Gateway, which includes Westgate mall, the Ng Teng Fong General Hospital and the new Genting Hotel Jurong.

    Mr Ng, who announced the location yesterday with Land Transport Authority chief executive Chew Men Leong and Singapore Land Authority chief executive Tan Boon Khai, said the HSR terminus "cannot exist in isolation".

    "You need supporting infrastructure and amenities... to allow us to benefit from the economic opportunities of having a station," he said. "Having a sizeable piece of land around it will allow us to do that."

    Mr Chew said MRT stations, present and upcoming, as well as nearby developments will be readily accessible from the HSR via several multi-level linkways.

    Much of the infrastructure for the HSR will be built underground, he added, but did not confirm if the terminus would be underground.

    The Jurong Region Line, slated to be operational by 2025, and Cross Island Line, to be ready by 2030, will also be close to the site.

    Options to connect commuters from the HSR to Changi Airport will also be considered, while a future integrated transport hub at Jurong East, where MRT lines and the bus interchange are connected via air-conditioned links, will be ready later this year.

    The authorities also said the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine complex will be located inside the terminus, with passengers needing to go through only a single border checkpoint either on the Malaysian or Singapore side.

    Mr Ng said the plot, which was the only one considered in Jurong East, will be developed as a seamless extension of Jurong Gateway and fulfil the planning vision to develop the district as a new growth centre.

    Plans to transform the 360ha Jurong Lake District - about the size of Marina Bay - into Singapore's second Central Business District have been in the works since 2008.

    Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak have called the HSR project a game changer which is expected to shorten travel time to about 90 minutes. There will be seven stops in Malaysia. The 340km line is estimated to cost $30 billion to build.

    After Jurong Country Club returns the land to the Government, soil investigation work will be done.

    Detailed planning and technical studies will also be carried out, including the drawing up of a site masterplan, and conducting an engineering study to finalise the station footprint, its design, and alignment to the track.

    More details will be announced in due course but it is likely that the 2020 deadline will have to be reassessed, said Mr Chew.

    A new deadline for the completion of the project should be announced at the end of this year.

    [email protected]

    Additional reporting by Adrian Lim
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  2. #2
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    Default Mixed-use development around the station

    http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/...ation-20150512

    Mixed-use development around the station

    Published on May 12, 2015

    By Rennie Whang


    THE development of the High Speed Rail (HSR) terminus will go hand in hand with the transformation of the surrounding Jurong Gateway business precinct, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said yesterday.

    The terminus is expected to take up about 12ha of the 67ha plot the Singapore Land Authority will be acquiring.

    It is a sizeable site as the HSR will not exist in "isolation". Supporting infrastructure and amenities are needed, said URA chief executive officer Ng Lang at a briefing. He said URA would develop around the station an "attractive mixed-use development precinct for businesses", with office, hotel, retail and entertainment space.

    "The site is very unique and special, fronted by water bodies and greenery. We envisage putting aside some space on the waterfront to develop family-friendly facilities that can complement what we are already planning for Jurong Lake Gardens and the new Science Centre."

    However, it will take some time for the urban design to be shaped up, he noted. A master plan will have to consider the site's connectivity to Jurong Gateway and to the rest of Singapore and the greenery as well. "How the area will evolve... depends on the needs of the community and market," he said.

    According to the Master Plan 2014, Jurong Gateway has land for about 500,000 sq m of office space, 250,000 sq m for retail, food and beverage and entertainment uses and a further 2,500 hotel rooms. Another 1,000 or more homes are to be added as well. The vision for the precinct was first announced in 2008.

    Given these plans, the Jurong Gateway still has plenty of room to grow, said Cushman & Wakefield research director Christine Li.

    Current office stock, for example, is just 20 per cent of that amount, while retail is at about 58 per cent. In terms of hotels, only the 557-room Genting Hotel Jurong has opened so far, yet the Master Plan 2014 allows for a cluster of them, said Ms Li.

    Residential needs will be partly met when the 738-unit J Gateway, which is fully sold, is completed next year.

    More homes could be added, she said.

    Prices of private residences and Housing Board resale flats in Jurong East and Lakeside are likely to be boosted by up to 10 per cent closer to the completion of the HSR, with increased leasing demand as well, said R'ST Research director Ong Kah Seng. There could even be a positive spillover effect into Jurong West and Bukit Batok.

    Demand could come from more Malaysians working in Singapore and looking to rent rooms here, he said.

    While the URA said yesterday that HSR plans "dovetail" with plans to turn the district into a second central business district (CBD), demand for offices in the area is hard to predict, said Savills Singapore research head Alan Cheong. Banks are giving up space in the CBD and even finding business park space in Changi expensive. But there could be demand from manufacturing companies looking to expand here, perhaps reducing their operations in Malaysia at the same time, he said.

    Office space in the area has seen decent uptake. Westgate Tower is over 91 per cent committed and joint owners Sun Venture and Low Keng Huat are in talks with a few tenants for the remaining space, Sun Venture managing director Alvin Teo said.

    The Ministry of National Development has taken up a master lease at Jem's office tower, while the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore and the Building and Construction Authority have already moved in. About 19 per cent of the building remains vacant.

    Ms Li expects the business mix to ultimately be more diverse than in the CBD. "Legal and finance companies may have to be in the CBD due to their client base, but other companies like tech players consider decentralised locations."

    Yet, the fact remains that a number of regional centres will be up and competing for occupants at the same time - including Woodlands and Paya Lebar - and the Government will still have to pay attention to vacancy rates in the CBD, added Century 21 chief executive Ku Swee Yong. "There are many contentious issues."

    [email protected]

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    Default Jurong Country Club to make way for high-speed rail terminus

    http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real...-rail-terminus

    Jurong Country Club to make way for high-speed rail terminus

    Development comes as a shock to the club management and its 2,800 members; club has formed a taskforce to work with Singapore Land Authority

    By Lynette Khoo

    [email protected]@LynetteKhooBT

    May 12, 2015


    JURONG Country Club's (JCC) land was on Monday gazetted for acquisition, paving the way for the site to be developed into the Singapore terminus of the high-speed rail (HSR) link with Malaysia - a development which caught the JCC management and its members flatfooted.

    Singapore Land Authority (SLA) chief executive Tan Boon Khai said JCC will be offered no replacement for the golf club site following the acquisition.

    The compensation to be paid to JCC under the Land Acquisition Act will be based on market value as at the acquisition date.

    JCC is slated to hand over the land by November 2016. Its lease on the 67-ha site, last renewed in 2003, was supposed to have run out only in May 2035; the club, comprising the golf course and clubhouse, had just sunk S$23 million into upgrading its greens in 2012.

    The land on which it sits is located within the 290-ha Lakeside area, which is part of the 360-ha Jurong Lake District.

    The HSR terminus is expected to occupy 12 ha, or nearly 20 per cent of the JCC site; a Customs, Immigration & Quarantine (CIQ) facility will be located there.

    Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) chief executive Ng Lang told reporters that the JCC site was chosen because the plot could accommodate the supporting infrastructure and amenities. The site's proximity to existing and future MRT lines and to the Jurong Gateway commercial hub was another factor.

    The remaining 80 per cent of the site beyond the HSR terminus will be turned into a mixed-use precinct comprising offices, retail, hotels and homes; there could also be family-friendly amenities in the Lakeside water bodies, complementing the Jurong Lake Gardens and the new Science Centre.

    These new developments will be implemented progressively.

    Mr Ng said the URA is looking to create seamless connectivity between the HSR terminus and the Jurong Gateway commercial hub, stressing the importance of a critical mass to develop Jurong East into Singapore's second central business district (CBD).

    "We also need to ensure that it is plugged into the rest of the region and plugged into the rest of Singapore, so this will involve doing a comprehensive review of how we would like to develop and improve the public infrastructure for the Jurong Lake District, using this as an opportunity."

    Land Transport Authority chief executive Chew Men Leong said that most of the HSR infrastructure will be underground; the terminus is expected to be within 600m of the current Jurong East MRT station and connected by to it by linkways.

    Two upcoming MRT lines, the Jurong Region Line (to be completed in 2025) and the Cross Island Line (2030) will be within accessible distance of the new terminal, Mr Chew said.

    The road networks in the area will be adjusted to facilitate commuting and to wean people from their cars.

    A week ago, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had revealed that the Singapore terminus for the HSR link to Kuala Lumpur would be in the Jurong Lake District in Jurong East, but had not provided details of the site then.

    He and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had also announced that the original target of completing the HSR by 2020 would need to be re-assessed, given the scale and complexity of the project.

    Speaking in parliament on Monday, Transport minister Lui Tuck Yew said Singapore and Malaysia are in deep discussions on the technical, security, commercial and regulatory aspects of the HSR.

    "It is too early for us to talk about fares, but we have already shared with the Malaysians that we think it's better for the express service between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, and for the transit service that runs from KL through a number of stops before it reaches Singapore - for both these sets of services - to be managed separately," he said.

    Property consultants say locating the HSR terminus in Jurong Lake District will likely boost Jurong property prices.

    JLL national research director Ong Teck Hui said more commercial activity could nudge land and property values in Jurong East above "suburban levels" - to levels befitting its status as a second CBD.

    News of the acquisition of the JCC site did not go down well for some members of the club.

    A 75-year-old questioned the choice of the site, given its distance from the Jurong East MRT station; another said he was dismayed at the news, given that he started golfing at JCC only nine months ago.

    Explaining the timing of the announcement, SLA's Mr Tan pointed to the complexity and amount of redevelopment planning required, and said time had to be given to JCC and its members to make alternative plans. He added that government agencies may work with JCC to identify another site for social purposes.

    JCC now has some 2,000 golfing members and 800 social members. Its captain and chairman of the golf committee Ross Tan told The Business Times that the club received a flurry of queries from members when the news about the acquisition broke.

    The JCC general committee will meet SLA in two weeks.

    Meanwhile, the club sent out an e-mail to its members on Monday, informing them of the land acquisition, and that its general committee had appointed a task force to work with SLA during the acquisition process.

    Corporate lawyer Robson Lee, partner at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, told BT that under such circumstances, the general committee will have to look into JCC's constitution and the trust deed on the use or distribution of proceeds from the compensation received. If the constitution and the trust deed are silent on this, the committee will have to convene a general meeting for members to deliberate on the use of proceeds.

    Morgan Lewis Stamford director Ng Joo Khin noted that the by-laws or constitutions of some non-profit clubs require them to channel funds in their coffers to a charity should the club be dissolved; others may be required to return the funds to members.

    It would also depend on how JCC decides to proceed from this point - it can choose to continue as a social club, acquire land or property later on which to build a replacement clubhouse, or even merge with another club, he said.

    The government has been reclaiming land from golf courses for redevelopment. In February last year, Keppel Club and Marina Bay Golf Club were told that their leases would not be renewed upon expiry. Two golf clubs - the Tanah Merah Country Club and the National Service Resort & Country Club - have had the size of their golf courses cut, while the Singapore Island Country Club is in the middle of having its greens pared back.

    Additional reporting by Lee U-Wen

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