City Development Limited (CDL) has long held a foothold in the property industry since 1963. CDL has developed more than 36,000 luxurious homes and owns close to 7.2 million square feet of commercial, retail, residential and hotel space locally and globally.
Project Name: Gramercy Park
Address: 57 Grange Road, S249569
Type: Condominium
Site area: approx. 169,189 sqft
Tenure: Freehold
District: 10
Configuration: 174 units in 2 towers
Unit types: 2-bedroom + study (1,184 – 1,292 sqft)
3-bedroom (1,884 – 2,207 sqft)
4-bedroom (2,562 – 3,122 sqft)
5-bedroom penthouse (5,543 – 7,287 sqft)
Estimated TOP: 2017
The showflat for Gramercy Park is located along Orchard Boulevard, next to Wheelock Place. The showflat has not been opened to the public as of yet.
Gramercy Park
The condominium is two 24-storey towers designed with an upward curve. Though it looks like a deck of cards piled too high, Gramercy Park is a sturdy and strong addition to the collection of upmarket mid-density condominiums in the vicinity. As an added bonus, Gramercy Park is the only freehold development along Grange Road.
Gramercy Park’s vast land area is ripe for all sorts of facilities made more luxurious. Large swathes of land are put aside for greenery. From the grand lawn and putting green to leisure and reflective gardens, Gramercy Park takes common facilities and makes them grander.
Source: Gramercy Park sales brochure
Other facilities include a 50m grand pool, an aqua gym pool, spa pool, jet pools and play pools. That’s a pool for every water activity you would want to for within a condominium.
Additionally, from the floorplans, all units regardless of size (save those on the 1st floor) have private lifts. What this likely means is that while the lift itself will be communal, the respective floors can only be accessed via a security chip or card programmed to that floor for the resident. The lift will open up to a private lobby, as a result. Balconies are also included for all units except the ones on the 1st floor which are expected to have a larger patio instead.
Source: Gramercy Park sales brochure
The smallest units available are 2-bedrooms with study and these start at a generous 1,184 sqft. As a result, these are some of the largest 2-bedroom units in Singapore. The largest of the 2-bedrooms with study is 1,292 sqft. The units follow a similar layout and differ only in size. This sort of homogeneous design keeps things uniformed and allow for faster development. The number of bedrooms may differ as well as the overall floor size, but standing in a 2-bedroom unit and a 4-bedroom should have a similar feel.
The penthouses however will have a significantly different experience, given their far larger size and different layout. But whether the penthouses share a homogeneous layout among themselves or are unique, remains to be seen.
Grange Road was built in 1866 to serve as a private road for Dr Thomas Oxley’s lavish estate. The estate which doubled as a nutmeg plantation was known as the Grange House which the road took its name from. The sprawling estate encompassed what is now River Valley Road, Tank Road, Grange Road and Orchard Road.
Now, Grange Road is a long two-way road that bridges Orchard Link with Holland Road. Several inner roads like Paterson Hill leads straight to Orchard Boulevard and Orchard Road.
Source: Google Maps
And in the middle of Grange Road, roughly a five minute drive to Paterson Road and Hoot Kiam Road (which connects to River Valley Road), is CDL’s upcoming freehold condominium; Gramercy Park.
The condominium fronts the main road, overlooking the 1985 condominium, The Colonnade. Far from the only residential property along Grange Road, Gramercy Park is merely the latest upmarket condominium with a posh name to call Grange Road its home.
The Colonnade
Spring Grove, One Chatsworth, Beverly Hill and Cliveden at Grange are just a handful of the many other low to mid density developments surrounding Gramercy Park. Further down and along Chatsworth Road is the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, following which is the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China just opposite Tanglin Mall. In the direction of Orchard Link is the High Commission of India.
A bit further down is 313@Somerset. Orchard Gateway and Orchard Central. The closest malls are Valley Point Shopping Centre (River Valley Road), Tanglin Mall (end of Grange Road to Holland Road), Great World City (Zion Road) and ION Orchard (Orchard Boulevard).
ION Orchard
The Singapore Botanic Gardens sits at roughly 1.8km from Gramercy Park and is yet another place for nature lovers living at Gramercy Park to visit on a weekend. Despite being situated in a fairly exclusive neighbourhood, there are a few schools within the 1-2km radius of Gramercy Park. These schools are:
The schools are not within walking distance from Gramercy Park but thanks to the several arterial roads, driving down would be fairly convenient with only traffic to contend with. More importantly, the 1-2km distance to the development makes it easier for parents to enter their children in any one of the schools with a higher chance of successful enrolment.
Being in the middle puts Gramercy Park at equidistance to the shopping belt in Orchard, the vibrancy of Holland Village and River Valley. There are several shopping, dining and leisure options around the perimeter of Gramercy Park, although all of them will require some form of vehicular transportation to get to. Fortunately most are a short five to 10 minute drive away, traffic notwithstanding.
Forum Orchard
If driving is not possible, there is a bus stop directly in front of Gramercy Park with only one bus – 75 – that goes toward Camden Medical Centre, Tanglin Mall and Holland Road. On the other side of the road, the same bus goes in the opposite direction toward Great World City along Zion Road and toward the Pan Pacific Hotel.
Travelling from bus solely, especially if it isn’t along the bus 75 route, will be inconvenient as only bus 75 from the stop at the Tourism Court goes to Gramercy Park.
Toward Grange Road
Fortunately, sometime in 2021, the Orchard Boulevard MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) will be opened. Its location is next to the Camden Medical Centre and The Grange and two bus stops to and from Gramercy Park.
At the time of publishing, CDL has yet to begin selling its units though it stands to reason that they are close to launching the showflat. At this time however, there is no information as to when this may happen.
While actual transaction data and indicative prices are not available at the moment, rental potential is still possible, thanks in large part to two of Gramercy Park’s closest competitors; Cliveden @ Grange Road and The Colonnade, both of which are across the road and next to one another. Cliveden is a 2011 property while The Colonnade is from 1985.
Bus stop at Cliveden across Gramercy Park
The rental prices seem to take this in consideration, as maintenance fees for Cliveden would be much higher than The Colonnade. However, due to the higher quantum units in this exclusive area, indicative rental yield fluctuates between 2.1% to 3.14% and influenced by the number of rental transactions occurring within a set year.
Monthly transacted rent according to URA data for Cliveden are from $8,000 to about $10,000 for units in the 2,100 sqft to 2,200 sqft range. This size is also roughly the range for a 3BR unit at Gramercy Park. Thus, it is likely that the rental amount for Gramercy can begin at $10,000, provided it is of a significantly high floor unit. For lower floors, the minimum rental for a 3BR unit can be a little lower, at $9,600 or less depending on various factors such as furnishing, view, etc.
Indicative starting prices for the 2BR units are around $3.2m which is a lot higher than Cairnhill Nine’s $1.3m. Granted that the price for that is for a 1BR unit, as a 2,013 sqft unit at Cairnhill was transacted at $4m. So prices at least are on the level where size is concerned but Cairnhill’s location is far more superior in terms of its accessibility and convenience than Gramercy.
Buyers who purchase a unit solely to rent out, should be wary as the rental pool is a lot smaller now than it used to be. Furthermore, as the properties here are freehold in an exclusive sort of area, the monthly rental demands as shown above are far higher than in other more accessible areas. While some people may prefer the relative peace and quiet they get from living here, unless they also drive, relying on public transport for travel can be a hassle.
Prudent renters would seek out similar type units in Orchard Road and still benefit from the nearby amenities and public transport. As such, buying a unit at Gramercy Park would make more sense for personal stay or at least, as a holiday home.
Grange Road is an address that is synonymous with affluence, similar to Bukit Timah and to a degree, Telok Kurau. Quite a number of condominiums are located here, and these aren’t the typical small boutique freehold apartments seen in Geylang, but rather 40-odd tower blocks of over 100 units of decent habitable sizes.
Gramercy Park entrance
On its own, Gramercy Park looks different from its competitors. The two blocks are like curved glass sculptures. The windows are fitted with glass screens and aluminium sun-shading screens to minimize the sun’s impact which is a good thing because it can get very hot along Grange Road.
Units start big which in Singapore, is a rarity. A 2BR apartment is big enough for a family for three, maybe four. The location is relatively peaceful. Grange Road may be constantly busy but Gramercy Park residents would be abundantly protected from most sounds.
Gramercy Park is an attractive looking development and it is likely that the units will be just as grand and spacious as the floorplans suggest. While the starting prices may seem a little high for a project in an area without much amenities within walking distance, it is on point for luxury projects in this range.
With that said, people who buy will be doing for so for the inherent exclusivity and perceived status of the area, of which Gramercy Park encompasses.
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