Aerial view of the residential site at Hillview Rise. (Photo: URA)
A 153,881.94 sq ft private residential site in Hillview Rise that can yield about 535 homes was awarded by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Tuesday (3 July) to Hong Leong Holdings for $460 million.
The top bid translates to about $1,044.38 psf based on the 99-year leasehold plot’s gross floor area of approximately 430,879.33 sq ft. It was submitted by Hong Leong subsidiaries Intrepid Investments and Garden Estates.
More: Govt To Release 14 Sites Yielding A Total Of 8,040 Homes
“We are pleased to be awarded the site at Hillview Rise under the Concept and Price Revenue tender system. This award recognises our experience and readiness to adopt and use innovative construction technologies and methods to achieve high construction productivity and quality outcomes for our projects,” said Hong Leong’s general manager for projects Loke Kee Yeu.
Under this tender system, bidders submit two envelopes. The ones containing the concept proposals will be opened first, followed by the envelopes containing bid prices. But only those with qualifying concept proposals will be considered, with the site going to the highest bidder.
The proposals were evaluated based on the bidder’s construction productivity plan (75 percent), construction management plan (15 percent) and track record (10 percent). The criteria required developers to use the most advanced building methods.
In fact, Hong Leong proposed to extensively adopt Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction (PPVC), and use Mass Engineered Timber (MET) for the project’s clubhouse. Aside from leveraging on BIM-based scheduling as well as QR code tracking, the developer will also utilise Virtual Design and Construction (VDC).
Overall, the Hillview Rise site was hotly contested thanks to its good attributes, with a consortium consisting of Areca Realty and CDL Constellation submitting the second highest bid of $405.889 million for the 99-year leasehold plot.
“The land parcel is very attractive, as it is close to retail amenities and is within walking distance to the MRT station. Better yet, it has the flavour of a very exclusive and private neighbourhood. While an increase in supply is expected to come onstream, it is still of limited availability as compared to other areas,” said Knight Frank Singapore’s research head Dr Lee Nai Jia.
“With the successful bid of the site, it is likely we will witness more of such two-envelope bidding for upcoming Government Land Sales (GLS) sites,” he added.
Home buyers looking for Singapore Properties may like to visit our Listings, Project Reviews and Guides.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
