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Published November 12, 2009

Mitre site sold to Heeton group for about $121m

Price works out to almost $1,100 psf ppr for freehold residential plot

By KALPANA RASHIWALA


A CONSORTIUM led by Heeton Holdings is understood to have signed a deal to buy the freehold Mitre Hotel site at Killiney Road for about $121-122 million. The price works out to almost $1,100 per sq ft of potential gross floor area including an estimated development charge (DC) of $770,000.


Mitre Hotel: The Killiney Road site can be redeveloped into a new project with about 110 apartments

Jones Lang LaSalle is understood to have brokered the sale following a tender exercise that closed in September.

The 39,972 sq ft site is zoned for residential use with a 2.8 plot ratio - the ratio of maximum potential gross floor area to land area - under Master Plan 2008. There is a 10-storey height limit. The plot can be developed into a new project with about 110 units of an average size of 1,000 sq ft.

Analysts estimate that based on the unit land price of almost $1,100 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr), Heeton's breakeven cost for a new apartment development could be about $1,600 psf.

The Mitre Hotel, which opened in 1948, stopped letting rooms when it lost its licence in 2002, according to earlier media reports.

The property - which is owned mostly by members of the Chiam family - was ordered to be put up for sale last year by the Court of Appeal, ending a 12-year legal tussle over its sale.

Market watchers said the last time the property was in the market was in August 2007 when it had a price tag of about $200 million or close to $1,800 psf ppr including an estimated $700,000 DC at the time.

Analysts also observe that the latest price of almost $1,100 psf ppr achieved for the property is a slight improvement on the $1,022 psf ppr (including DC) that Hoi Hup paid for the Killiney Apartments plot nearby in April 2007. Hoi Hup is now redeveloping that site into the Residences @ Killiney.

Heeton yesterday reported a 143 per cent year- on-year jump in net earnings for the nine months ended Sept 30, 2009 to $10.5 million.

The company is seeking shareholders' approval for the disposal of five wet-market properties in Singapore to supermarket chain Sheng Siong.