New condo with MRT link

A new condominium with an all-weather walkway is planned to be erected near the MRT station.

In Beach Road, the newly built Concourse Skyline can be Singapore’s first housing project that has a bridge connecting it to a mass transit system. Considered as a new trend, other projects will surely follow.

Upon its completion, the residents of the Concourse Skyline, which is to be built on the Concourse complex’s demolished part, will have to walk for only 200 metres to the rebuilt station in Nicoll Highway of the Circle Line. It will be opened next year.

Developed by Hong Fok, a listed property group, the 360-unit condominium will be available in 2013.

The unique addition of the Concourse Skyline has come from unusual conditions. The original station in Nicoll Highway near the Concourse has been originally planned to have an underground connection to the Concourse’s former wing. However, when the station has collapsed in 2004, killing four of its workers during the construction, the original plan has been cancelled.

This has resulted to a dispute between Hong Fok and the Land Transport Authority. None of the party wants to comment on the issue, however, The Straits Times knows the condo developer wants to have easy access to the Nicoll Highway station. Last year, the issue has been settled and they have come up with an overhead residential link.

“The new Concourse development is no longer a commercial space, and the new MRT station is much farther away,” S.E. Cheong of Hong Fok explains.

Carrying out the project will take three stages, and the first has been recently accomplished after the overhead bridge has been completed.

The project’s second stage to connect the bridge to the station as well as to place escalators and lifts are ongoing.

When the Concourse Skyway is almost completed, Hong Fok will build the final segment that will link the condo to the overhead bridge. This segment can only be accessed via a secured doorway, where only residents can pass.

The linkway has already been included by Hong Fok for the condo’s publicity materials. The plan for the project has been made last year, during the time when Singapore is experiencing global financial crisis. According to Mr Cheong, the prices of the units range from $1,500 to $1,800/ sq. ft.
The $2.5 billion project of the City Developments, which has been planned to be established in Beach Road, will also have links to MRT station. This project is expected to be ready by 2016.