New flats, seamless link for MRT and bus interchange
BEDOK Town Centre will receive a complete facelift in the next few years, with the construction of a new integrated public transport hub and private homes.
These developments will also have space for commercial use totalling 35,000 sq m.
The most dramatic change will be the seamless linking of Bedok bus interchange to the MRT station and the building of an estimated 475 private apartments beside the interchange.
Residents welcomed the news that the bus interchange will be air-conditioned while property analysts foresee the apartments being snapped up.
Bedok Point, a mall which will open next month, stands close to the new project, which will take up a 2.49ha plot now occupied by a bus interchange.
Senior Minister S. Jayakumar, an MP for East Coast GRC, is convinced that the proximity of the projects will give residents ‘a rejuvenated and more vibrant town centre’.
Minister of State for Manpower and Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan, who is MP for East Coast GRC’s Kampong Chai Chee ward, added: ‘The new project will inject a lot of life, dynamism and excitement into the lives of people living in East Coast.’
The promise of commercial and residential developments attracted nine bids yesterday when the sale tender closed, with the top bid at about $790 million, made jointly by two subsidiaries of property giant CapitaLand.
The successful bidder will be made known in two weeks’ time.
More changes are being planned. One idea MPs have floated is to bring under one roof the ageing sports facilities in Bedok, such as the swimming pool, indoor stadium and Adventure Park.
The land freed up can be used to build new HDB flats or private condominiums, and that will bring many new and younger families to Bedok Central.
Ngee Ann Polytechnic real estate lecturer Nicholas Mak hopes the apartments coming up will be two- and three-room homes that are about 1,300 sq ft.
‘These would be of a decent size and, as Bedok is a mature estate, the flats will be much in demand from families with three generations that want to live under one roof,’ he said.
He expects the apartments to be priced around $1,100 to $1,200 per sq ft.