Redevelopment of Singapore Turf Club site could yield 20,000-40,000 new homes: analysts

Jun 06, 2023

TENS of thousands of new homes could come up on the 120 hectares of land freed up by the closure of the Singapore Turf Club (STC), said real estate analysts.

STC’s current racecourse site in Kranji will be returned to the government by March 2027 to make way for housing and other developments in the area. This builds on previously announced plans to further develop Singapore’s northern region, such as redeveloping the area around Woodlands Checkpoint and transforming the Lim Chu Kang area into a high-tech agri-food cluster.

“This was not an easy decision but necessary,” said Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah at a press conference on Monday (Jun 5).

“There have been increasing needs and demands for land, and the government regularly reviews our land use plans because we want to ensure that resources are optimised to meet Singaporeans’ needs.”

The last time such a large parcel of land was freed up for development was the Jurong Lake District (JLD), then touted as the country’s second central business district, said PropertyGuru Singapore country manager Tan Tee Khoon.

“Taking reference from JLD, this could potentially mean an estimated 20,000 homes in the land currently occupied by the Singapore Turf Club,” he said.

Tricia Song, head of research for South-east Asia at CBRE, pointed out that the plot ratios of nearby residential estates, such as Choa Chu Kang and Woodlands, range between 1.4 and 3.

“Assuming similar densities, a 120-ha site could yield up to 18 milion to 38 million square feet of housing or about 20,000 to 40,000 homes,” she said.

Song said the STC site, though smaller than Paya Lebar Airbase’s 1,880 ha and Punggol’s 800 ha, was much larger than those in the current government land sales programme such as JLD’s 6.8 ha.

Housing might be attractive given the area’s proximity to Kranji MRT station and the Causeway, which would draw those who commute from Malaysia, she said.

And new private homes could be keenly sought after as investment property as The Singapore American School is less than 1 km away, she added, with industrial estates and wafer fab parks nearby also providing possible tenancy catchments.

While the Kranji site might be too small to build an entirely new township, Huttons senior research director Lee Sze Teck highlighted that it might serve as an extension of the Woodlands district, making it the country’s largest township.

According to data compiled by JLL, there are currently just 224 private homes located in the Sungei Kadut planning area where STC is sited, and no public housing, making Sungei Kadut the smallest district in the country’s northern region. Woodlands currently holds 76,691 public and private homes, and is projected to have 102,000 housing units in the future.

JLL head of Singapore residential research Chia Siew Chuin said redevelopment would yield opportunities to unlock potential values accrued to the higher-value uses of residential and retail, compared to the current sports and recreation use.

Nicholas Mak, chief research officer of property portal Mogul.sg, predicted that should the land be converted to residential use, about 80 per cent of space could be set aside for public housing, with the remaining 20 per cent for private housing.

Eugene Lim, ERA key executive officer, noted that the site’s eastern side would probably be set aside for Housing and Development Board homes, since there is already an HDB cluster at Woodlands Street 41, just across the Bukit Timah Expressway; while the western end along Turf Club Avenue is likely to be set aside for low-rise condominiums or landed properties, since there are existing landed homes at the Jalan Kasau area.

Redevelopment of the area will also bring improved amenities and transport connectivity, said Lee.

It now takes around 50 minutes to an hour to commute from Kranji to the central business district by train, Mak noted. “If this area becomes a more attractive area to live in, property prices here may rise faster than those in Woodlands,” said Lee.

According to caveats captured in the URA Realis database, 24 condo units were transacted in District 25, which covers the Kranji and Woodgrove areas, in May 2023.

Prices ranged from S$795 per square foot (psf) for a 1,636 square foot (sq ft) unit at 99-year leasehold Northoaks Condominium, which sold for S$1.3 million, to S$1,417 psf for a 430 sq ft unit at 99-year leasehold condo Parc Rosewood, which was sold for S$610,000.

Recent transactions ranged from a S$2.05 million sale of a 99-year terrace house at the Century Woods project in the Woodgrove area, which changed hands in May, to S$4.3 million for a freehold 4,000 sq ft detached house in Woodlands Park along Jalan Dinding, which sold in April.

A range of needs

The 120-ha STC site will also have “redevelopment potential for retail and hotels”, especially after the Singapore Zoo is fully redeveloped under the Mandai Rejuvenation Project, said Lee Nai Jia, PropertyGuru’s head of real estate intelligence, data and software solutions.

Hotels near Mandai or alternative sports or thematic parks are likely to hold greater appeal for the general public than the current STC, said Desmond Sim, chief executive officer of Edmund Tie.

Sim added that mixed developments with retail use would also ride on commuter footfall from Kranji MRT station, which is a transit point for bus travellers between Singapore and JB.

“Another potential development that could catalyse the area is the JB-Singapore RTS Link,” said PropertyGuru’s Lee. “That said, the area is considered far from most current major employment clusters and it will take some time for people to change their perception.”

JLL research and consultancy head Tay Huey Ying pointed out there are “plentiful” large and small regional retail malls in the west and north of Singapore – including Jem, Westgate, Causeway Point, Lot One and Hillion Mall.

“There could be opportunity for some retail or food and beverage uses to cater to the recreational crowd planned for the site and the hiker or cyclist communities, given the proximity to the northern end of the Rail Corridor and the T15 mountain biking or hiking trailhead leading to Chestnut Nature Park,” she said.

Savills Singapore’s executive director of research and consultancy Alan Cheong added that leisure activities such as go-karting or motor racing may also serve a smaller market than what the 120 ha site could be used for.

Since plans are likely to only come to pass in the longer term, Knight Frank Singapore’s head of research Leonard Tay pointed out that the current STC site could still be used for leisure and recreational activities in the interim.

Before moving to Kranji, the Turf Club sat on a 140 ha site in Bukit Timah, where it operated from 1933 to 1999. The plot has been earmarked under the government’s Master Plan 1998 for housing.

Since 1999, the site has been leased out for lifestyle and recreational use, including retail, food and beverage, sports and recreation, as well as motor vehicle showrooms in the Turf City complex.

Tenants at Turf City have been told to vacate the site by Dec 31, 2023 to make way for redevelopment plans, namely residential developments and the construction of an upcoming MRT station, Turf City station, on the Cross Island Line.

“Perhaps in the interim, (STC) can be used in the manner Turf City at Bukit Timah was, where indoor and outdoor recreational activities germinated just because there was space and opportunity for diverse mainstream and eclectic activities to flourish,” said Tay.

As Edmund Tie’s Sim said: “We have seen the rezoning of the Paya Lebar Airport and a few golf courses. So why not the same for the Turf Club, which is a large site with activities that cater to a select few rather than the general public?”

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