A land site in Yishun for mixed commercial and residential development attracted five bids at the close of its tender on Thursday, according to the Housing and Development Board (HDB).
Frasers Centrepoint, through its units North Gem Development & FC North Gem Trustee, submitted the highest bid of S$1.43 billion for the land parcel at Yishun Avenue 2/Yishun Central 1.
This works out to about S$1,077 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).
The top bid is 47 per cent higher than the next highest bid of S$969.3 million submitted jointly by Far East Civil Engineering, Far East Orchard and Sekisui House.
The lowest bid of S$704.5 million or S$531 psf ppr came from Yorkshire Investments (1) Pte. Ltd. and Yorkshire Trustee Pte. Ltd. (in its capacity as trustee of Yorkshire Mall Trust).
In a statement, ERA’s key executive officer, Eugene Lim, said: “It is possible that the top bidder had expected keen competition for this site (so) they decided to put in such a high bid.”
He added: “The breakeven is estimated to be just below S$1,500 psf, and they may have to sell around S$1,600 to S$1,800 psf to account for profit.”
The 41,084.9 square metre site was put for sale by tender on June 28.
Some 890 residential units are expected to be developed on the 99-year leasehold site.
CBRE Research’s associate director, Desmond Sim, said: “The sale of the site represents the next step in the realisation of the government’s plans to revitalise Yishun estate. Retail at Yishun has the potential to grow further with the new shopping development being planned for the site.”
He added that the site’s integration with Yishun MRT station and bus interchange in the future “makes it a new focal point for Yishun”.
Meanwhile, Christopher Tang, CEO of Frasers Centrepoint Commercial, said in a statement that the company plans to develop a “12-storey integrated complex comprising 900 residential units sitting on top of a retail mall, bus interchange and community club”.
He added that the top bid also “demonstrates our confidence in the suburban mall sector, and is in line with our strategy to strengthen our foothold in the Yishun area”.
HDB said a decision on the award of the tender will be made after the bids have been evaluated and will be announced at a later date.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 5 Sep 2013