By Kalpana Rashiwala
kalpana@sph.com.sg
@KalpanaBT
source: The Business Times
AN ENTITY linked to IOI Properties Group has been tipped as the party that triggered the white site in Marina View from the reserve list of the first-half 2021 Government Land Sales Programme.
The 0.78-hectare (about 84,000 sqft) site, with 99-year leasehold tenure, can be developed up to 1.09 million square feet (sq ft) of gross floor area (GFA). The plot can generate some 905 private homes, 540 hotel rooms and 21,528 sq ft GFA of commercial space.
A “white” site is a land parcel where a range of uses are allowed, although the government is likely to stipulate a minimum component, or even a maximum component, of a specific use or specific uses to meet its planning intentions.
Last week, it was announced that the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) will release the white site in Marina View for sale by public tender on June 28, following a successful application from an unnamed developer that has committed to bid at least $1.508 billion or $1,379 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) at tender.
The Marina View land parcel is beside the future Shenton Way MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line.
The project completion period will be seven years.
IOI Properties, listed on Bursa Malaysia, declined to comment on the Marina View site when approached by The Business Times.
However, the group elaborated on its IOI Central Boulevard Towers here, a predominantly office project that it is developing on a white site flanked by Lau Pa Sat and the Down-town MRT station.
The group clinched this site at a URA tender that closed in November 2016. Its winning bid of S$2.57 billion translated to S$1,689 psf ppr.
IOI Central Boulevard Towers will have about 1.26 million sq ft net lettable area of Grade A office space.
There will be two office towers – the shorter East Tower and the West Tower rising to Level 48. Typical office floor plates will range from about 21,700-25,400 sq ft; there will be two levels in the seven-storey podium with ultra-large office floor plates of 70,000 sq ft each.
The development will also include 30,000 sq ft of retail space.
Desmond Sim, deputy chief executive officer of Edmund Tie & Company, said: “I believe that the party that triggered the release of the Marina View site from the government’s reserve list has confidence in Marina Bay as a successful precinct for work, live and play.
“The subject plot is designated predominantly for residences and hotel rooms and should draw keen interest at tender, given the encouraging performance of Singapore residential property launches over the past 12 months.”
IOI Properties also has a 49.9 per cent stake in the consortium that developed the South Beach mixed development project – comprising offices, luxury residences, the JW Marriott Singapore South Beach and F&B/retail space. The remaining 50.1 per cent stake is held by mainboard-listed City Developments.
IOI also partnered Ho Bee for two condominium projects in the water-front housing precinct of Sentosa Cove – Seascape and Cape Royale.
Based on information on the group’s website, IOI Properties’ first foray into Singapore was in 1996, with the purchase of land along Middle Road, which was developed into IOI Plaza and sold in 2010.
The Singapore government will launch land parcels on the reserve list for tender upon successful application by an interested party, accompanied with an undertaking of a minimum bid price that is acceptable to the state.
A reserve-list plot may also be launched for sale if there is sufficient market interest in the form of at least two unrelated parties submitting minimum prices that are close to the state’s reserve price for the site, within a reasonable period.
While the successful trigger of a re- serve-list site and the minimum price that the applicant has undertaken to bid are announced, the identity of the applicant is not disclosed to the public.
Confirmed-list sites are launched for tender according to schedule, regardless of demand.
