The coveted site in Bukit Timah is linked to the Holland Village MRT station
A public tender for a mixed-use commercial and residential site valued at over S$1 billion ($759 million) in Singapore’s Bukit Timah neighbourhood has drawn 15 bids from a roster of property heavyweights including CapitaLand, UOL Group and Lendlease.
Ten consortia participated in the tender for the project in the upscale neighborhood, some of which submitted more than one bid, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) which announced the tender closing on Tuesday.
The bidders were required to submit their concept proposals for the 59,715 square metre development along with tender prices in two separate envelopes. A URA committee has begun reviewing the concepts, and will create a shortlist of acceptable candidates before the government agency reviews the tender offers and selects the winning bidder, a process that could take around two months.
Site Value Believed to Exceed S$1 Billion
The site is located on Holland Road, in the westernmost part of Singapore’s Central Region, and connects to the Holland Village MRT station. The 22,967 square metre (247,215 square foot) plot can be developed into a project with as many as 570 residential units, which the winning bidder will have seven years to complete.
Pontiac Land Group, chaired by Kwee Liong Tek, submitted two bids in partnership with Lendlease
The development is zoned for 59,715 square metres (542,767 square feet) of gross floor area, of which at least 60 percent is allocated for residential use, and the remainder must be developed as commercial or serviced apartment space.
“As expected, many major players submitted bids with a number of them as consortiums,” said Ong Teck Hui, National Director, Research at JLL, as cited by the Straits Times. “The huge capital outlay with a land price possibly exceeding S$1 billion and the necessary experience in developing and managing the non-residential component would have led to the tie-ups.”
Ong added that the number of tender submissions for the coveted site reflected a rebound in Singapore’s residential and commercial property markets as well as a stabilising retail sector. Singapore started to climb out of a nearly four-year housing slump in the last quarter of 2017.
Property prices for mid-tier homes rose 4.7 percent year-on-year in the first two months of 2018, while mass-market home prices inched down by 2.4 percent. Analysts at Credit Suisse have projected that home prices in the city-state could rise by five to 10 percent in 2018, while Morgan Stanley forecasts eight percent growth, a pace that could continue in 2019 as rising demand outstrips a limited supply of unsold inventory.
When One Bid Is Not Enough
The sunny outlook for Singapore’s housing market may explain the enthusiastic turnout for the Holland Road site, in which several developers placed multiple tenders with varying design proposals — including separate tender deposits.
A consortium of Singapore’s Far East Organization and Japanese home builder Sekisui House placed the greatest number of bids by submitting three proposals to the URA. Three consortia put in two bids each including Lendlease in partnership with Pontiac Land, Perennial Real Estate Holdings with Qingjian Realty, and GuocoLand with Hong Leong Holdings.
The remaining consortia, which placed one bid each, consisted of City Developments with RB Capital; Allgreen Properties with Kerry Properties; UOL Group with United Industrial Corporation; CapitaLand with Hotel Properties; SingHaiyi Group with Haiyi Holdings; and Chip Eng Seng with Roxy-Pacific Holdings and JBE Properties.
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