Location of the land parcel at Martin Place.
The tender for a 99-year leasehold residential site at Martin Place in River Valley closed on Tuesday (28 June) after attracting 13 bids, said the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
First Bedok Land, a unit of GuocoLand, submitted the highest bid of $595.1 million, or $1,239 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr).
This is the highest psf price achieved for a purely residential site under the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme, said Desmond Sim, Head, CBRE Research, Singapore and South East Asia.
This was followed by a $588 million ($1,224 psf ppr) offer from a consortium comprising Intrepid Investments, a unit of Hong Leong Holdings, Verwood Holdings (CDL), TID Residential and Garden Estates.
The lowest bid came from Multi Wealth (Singapore) at $402.8 million ($839 psf ppr).
According to Sim, “the number of prime, purely residential sites available on the market is very limited, and developers are still hungry for such sites as a result. The developers who participated in the tender were attracted by the affordable quantum. They were planning forward, encouraged by the recent success of Cairnhill Nine.
“The winner will be able to take advantage of launching a product that suits the market, at an opportune time when the market recovers, either because of a tweak in measures or when the market recovers. The last time a site was made available in the vicinity was back in March 2011 at Robertson Quay ($938 psf ppr). In addition, the last site awarded in District 9 was at Mount Sophia back in September 2013 ($1,157 psf ppr),” he added.
Launched for sale on 28 April 2016 under the first half 2016 GLS Programme, the approximately 171,535 sq ft site has a maximum gross floor area of 480,307 sq ft. It could potentially yield about 450 condo units.
The land parcel is located close to the future Great World MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line. Nearby condominiums include Martin Place Residences, Rivergate and Martin 38.
A decision on the award of the tender will be made after the bids have been evaluated, said the URA.
Aerial view of the sale site. (Photo: URA)
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
