The freehold redevelopment site, with a land area of 13,741.2 sq m (approximately 147,909 sq ft), is located within 350 metres of Paya Lebar MRT interchange station and enjoys three frontages along Tanjong Katong Road, Geylang Road and Haig Road. It is also situated next to the proposed Paya Lebar Central Sub-Regional Centre. Paya Lebar Central is one of the three commercial hubs, which is part of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA)’s decentralization strategy, to provide alternative location for businesses and to bring jobs closer to homes. The vision for Paya Lebar Central is to develop it into a lively, pedestrian-friendly commercial hub with a distinctive cultural identity.
The subject site is currently zoned Hotel and Commercial in the 2008 Master Plan. However, the URA has, in response to an outline application, allowed the site to be redeveloped into a mix of residential and commercial developments, up to a gross plot ratio of 3.39.
The total allowable gross floor area (GFA) is 47,187.3 sq m(507,924 sq ft) consisting of 22,650 sq m(243,805 sq ft) of residential GFA and 24,537.3 sq m(264,119 sq ft) of commercial GFA. With this quantum of commercial and residential GFAs, a shopping centre similar to that of Katong Mall and some 240 apartment units of an average size of 1,000 sq ft can be developed on this site.
In calculating the above GFA, URA has included a substation site of about 190.3 sq m which is currently owned by SP Powerassets Ltd. The price for this property is expected to exceed $300 million, excluding development charge. At $300 million, the land price works out to about $753 psf/pr inclusive of an estimated development charge of about $77.8 million payable for the rezoning. However, if a 10% bonus balcony on residential GFA is included, the land price will reduce to $736 psf/pr.
Lion City Hotel was built by the late Mr Wee Thiam Siew some 40 years ago. The Wee family has been operating the hotel ever since. Sitting on almost 148,000 sq ft of freehold land, the hotel which has only 166 rooms is grossly under-developed. With the site now being allowed to change its use to residential and commercial use, the family decided to divest this asset as property development is not their core business.
Both marketing agents expect keen interest from developers as it is seldom in Singapore to have a freehold site in single ownership suitable for large scale development being offered for sale. This property offers developers a golden opportunity to acquire a prime freehold site where the proposed development would benefit from the up and coming commercial hub at the Paya Lebar Central.
The tender will close on Thursday 6 January 2011 at 3.00pm.