Daily Archives: 18 Sep 2009

HDB seeks buyer for Clementi mall

THE Housing & Development Board is looking for a buyer for a mall in Clementi Town Centre which it is building as part of a larger 40-storey development that will also include two blocks of HDB flats and a bus interchange.

Jones Lang LaSalle, which is handling the tender for the mall, said the price is ‘in excess of $300 million’.

The mall comprises two basement levels and five storeys above ground, with a maximum net floor area of 18,000 sq m (or 193,750 sq ft) of retail space.

HDB is building only the core structure and facade, which it aims to hand over to the eventual buyer around August next year. The new owner will then finish the project internally, with flexibility to plan the theme and layout. The buyer will also have naming rights to the mall.

JLL estimates the buyer may spend about a further $50 million to fit out the mall. Assuming a $300 million purchase price, the total investment would work out to about $1,800 psf of retail net floor area. This does not take into account about 21,266 sq ft of gross floor area on the fifth level, set aside for a library under the development’s civic and community institution space.

Assuming gross average monthly rent of $11 psf is achieved for the mall, the net yield for the investor would work out to about 6 per cent. The buyer will get a fresh 99-year lease when HDB hands over the property. Continue reading

Far East offers $119m for Seletar site

THE first land tender exercise since the Government announced measures to calm the property market closed yesterday with a bullish top bid well out of sync with the other leading offers.

Far East Organization lodged a bid of $119.08 million for the mainly residential site at the corner of Yio Chu Kang Road and Seletar Road.

RELATED LINKS     TOP 5 BIDS

This was 35 per cent higher than the second bid and nearly 2-1/2 times higher than the lowest offer of $48.8 million.

The site is on the reserve list, which means that it was put up for tender only after a developer triggered its sale by committing to a minimum acceptable bid.

There were 12 bidders in all – more than expected – including high-profile developers such as Frasers Centrepoint, Sim Lian Land and Ho Bee Investment.

The Far East bid, which works out at $376.29 per sq ft (psf) of gross floor area, was ’surprisingly bullish’ as the site is in a sleepy area that is not near an MRT station, said property consultant Nicholas Mak, a Ngee Ann Polytechnic lecturer.

The 99-year leasehold site also has a height restriction of five storeys. Continue reading