Buyers are showing keen interest in the Lion City Hotel and Hollywood Theatre site up for sale near Paya Lebar MRT station.
About 40 companies have already made enquiries said Landmark Property Advisors and Knight Frank, the marketing firms for the site.
The list includes ‘every major developer’ in the market, Landmark director Lee Hon Kiun said yesterday.
He and Knight Frank’s senior manager for investment sales, Mr Ian Loh, said partnerships may be in the works as developers team up to vie for the site, which carries an indicative price tag of $300 million.
The successful bidder will be allowed to redevelop it into a new condominium, the marketing agents said.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has granted outline permission for the plot to be used for a residential building, with shops on the first floor. But an estimated development charge of $80.8 million will apply.
Earlier, the URA had approved a mixed commercial and residential development on the land.
Apart from the new development option, the URA has allowed an additional 5,791 sq ft of state land to be included as part of the site. This will extend the plot on two fronts, bringing it closer to Geylang Road on one side and nearer Tanjong Katong Road on another.
With the state land, the site’s area will be increased from 147,909 sq ft to 153,700 sq ft, with a total gross floor area of 461,104 sq ft. It will be able to host about 380 apartments with an average size of 1,000 sq ft each, as well as 78,000 sq ft of retail space on the first floor.
Developers must pay an extra $8 million for the state land.
Including this premium and the estimated development charge of $80.8 million for a residential development, and based on the $300 million indicative price, the price of the land works out to $843 per sq ft of potential gross floor area.
The tender closing date has been extended to Jan 18 from the original Jan 6.