The City Towers collective sale tender was launched last January, and sold in February to a unit linked to Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing for S$401.9 million.
If a pair of siblings have their way, the collective sale of City Towers, sold last February to a unit linked to Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing for S$401.9 million, will not go through.
The brother and sister, who own two units at the freehold residential development along Bukit Timah Road, have filed their objections to the en bloc sale.
A hearing will be held at the Singapore High Court on Jan 10. The court will decide if the objections are valid. If they are, it will not give the sale order for the en bloc sale.
The Business Times understands that one of the issues revolves around the payment of the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) rates if the sale goes through. Other objections are more personal.
Apparently, the duo’s objections have affected their mother, who also owns a unit at City Towers, and has already bought a new home.
Japura Development, linked to Mr Li’s Cheung Kong empire, clinched City Towers – a development comprising 77 units of apartments and maisonettes, a penthouse unit and a shop unit – at S$401.9 million.
The sale price was more than 13 per cent above the owners’ reserve price and worked out to a land rate of about S$1,847 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), after factoring in a development charge of S$3.5 million.
Depending on the size of their unit, each residential owner stands to receive between S$2.78 million and S$11.5 million from the successful sale of the development.
The City Towers collective sale tender was launched on Jan 4 last year and attracted seven competitive bids, said marketing agent Colliers International.
City Towers has a land area of 104,531 sq ft, with a proposed total gross floor area of 219,516 sq ft.
Under the Master Plan 2014, it is zoned residential and has a plot ratio of 2.1. The site can potentially be redeveloped to a 24-storey residential block offering about 190 new units, at an average size of 1,098 sq ft.
The site is not subject to the pre-application feasibility study on traffic impact, which is required if a redeveloped site proposes a significant increase in the number of dwelling units over the existing ones.