Marina One, a landmark mixed-use development at Marina South, broke ground on Wednesday.
M+S, a joint venture owned by Malaysia’s Khazanah Nasional and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, says the development will provide commerce, high-end residences and retail spaces, and is on track to be completed by 2017.
The 60:40 joint venture between Khazanah Nasional and Temasek came about after a landmark land swop deal for the former Malayan Railway land.
M+S’s board of directors came together to mark the start of Marina One’s development earlier in the morning.
“So far, the working arrangement has been excellent. The schedule of the development is on track. We have secured a S$5 billion financing facility from eight banks. It is one of the largest property financing projects ever raised in Singapore for a company,” said Azman Yahya, chairman of the M+S board of directors.
With a gross development value of S$7 billion, the development will have a gross floor area of 341,000 square metres.
The site includes four land parcels spanning 2.62 hectares.
Marina One will be eventually linked to the Marina Bay MRT station when completed in 2017.
The upcoming Downtown Line MRT station will also be near the development comprising two residential blocks. Another two office blocks will be launched in the next few months.
M+S will not unveil Marina One’s design until its launch in the upcoming months, but says the development’s 200-metre tall office blocks will be 30-storey high.
Office space will make up 60 per cent of the development, while five per cent will be leased out for retail.
The remaining 35 per cent will be set aside for 1,042 residential units in the 130-metre tall residential blocks.
Analysts say investors may be receptive if the residential units are priced close to neighbouring developments, which now go for S$2,300 to S$2,500 per square foot.
Nicholas Mak, research head at SLP International, said: “Developers will have to consider the speed of sales, hence they may want to launch the project at about S$2,300 to S$2,500 per square foot. As for the office space, if they were to be completed, it would fetch rents of about S$6 to S$8 per square foot per month.
“Many of the potential buyers of this new apartment development are likely to be investors because of the location of these residential blocks.”
“With the ABSD in place, I think some of the foreign investors may be discouraged from coming to the residential market. So I think the pace of sale will be slower. I think it will take more than two years for the 1,000 over apartments to be fully sold,” Mr Mak added.
According to M+S, development plans for two land parcels at Ophir Road which form part of the bilateral landmark deal are pending approval.
The project, which includes residential, commercial and retail units, as well as a hotel, will be unveiled in the next few months.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 11 Jul 2012
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