A land site for hotel or mixed use development at Victoria Street/Jalan Sultan received nine bids at the close of tender on Thursday.
Placing the top bid was Forward Land at S$331.37 million.
Based on maximum gross floor area GFA of 30,977 square metres, the bid works out to S$10,696.19 per square metre of gross floor area.
The top bid is also 9.1 per cent higher than the second bid which came from a consortium comprising Hoi Hup Realty, Sunway Developments and Hoi Hup J.V.
Hoi Hup is the developer of residences such as The Ford @ Holland, and Waterford Residence.
The lowest bid came from Peak Sky for S$177.1 million or S$5,715.85 per square metre of gross floor area.
DWG’s senior manager of research, Lee Sze Teck, said the top bid is within expectations.
He noted Forward Land had previously lost out in the previous two hotel tenders at Jalan Bukit Merah and Rangoon Road in the past one year.
Mr Lee said the strong bids for the site could be due to the buoyant tourism industry, leading to higher demand for hotel rooms and room rates.
The site is also well-located with a view of the Rochor River, he added.
Spanning 8,423.2 square metres, the site can be developed into a hotel.
It is also allowed for mixed development comprising at least 60 per cent residential, 30 per cent hotel space and maximum 10 per cent for commercial like shops or offices.
Originally on the Reserve List of the Government Land Sales programme, the site was launched for public tender on August 16 after the Urban Redevelopment Authority accepted a successful application for the site to be put up for sale.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 11 Oct 2012