URA to put up residential site at Farrer Drive for sale

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) will be putting up a residential site at Farrer Drive for sale by public tender.

This, after a developer committed to bid at a price of not less than S$88,888,000 in the tender for the land parcel.

The 99-year leasehold site was made available for sale through the Reserve List system on April 16, 2012.

Under the Reserve List system, a site will only be launched for tender if the developer’s minimum bid price is acceptable to the government.

The Farrer Drive site spans 0.63 hectare and has a maximum permissible gross floor area (GFA) of 10,030 square metres, with a maximum building height of eight storeys.

Nicholas Mak, Executive Director of Research & Consultancy at SLP International Property Consultants, said, “Despite irregular land shape, this site is relative attractive due to its location.

“It is located in the prime district 10 and its close proximity to Holland Road will facilitate convenient linkage to and from Orchard Road and the Central Business District (CBD).”

Mr Mak added that the application bid, which translates to S$823 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), is the highest in terms of psf ppr in the history of the Government Land Sales programme in Singapore.

As such, Mr Mak said the developer who will eventually win the tender for the site is expected to pay a high land price, and the successful bidder would likely be building mostly small apartment units to maximise the sale price on a per square foot basis. The site could yield potentially 120 to 150 units.

Mr Mak said the tender could attract up to nine bids at an estimated bid price of between S$89 million and S$94 million.

URA said it will launch the public tender for the site in about two weeks.

Details of the land parcel

With a site area of about 0.63 ha, the residential site will have a maximum permissible gross floor area (GFA) of 10,030 sqm.

The land parcel is located in an established private residential area within the central region. It is easily accessible by major arterial roads and expressways such as Farrer Road, Holland Road, Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) and Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE)..

More details on the land parcel are available on the URA website at
http://www.ura.gov.sg/sales/FarrerDr/MA/FarrerDr-intro(T).html

Source: URA 11 May 2012