http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real...d-go-on-market

Eden Hall vacant land could go on market

Market expects two plots to be potentially carved out for sale

By Kalpana Rashiwala

[email protected]@KalpanaBT

Jul 17, 2015


SOME prime Good Class Bungalow (GCB) land along Nassim Road could come on the market in the next several months. Expectations are running high that the British government could offer for sale part of the vacant freehold land at its Eden Hall site.

By some accounts, possibly two plots of land may be carved out for sale. The minimum land area stipulated by Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for a GCB is 1,400 square metres (15,069 square feet).

Eden Hall, a conservation bungalow, itself will not be sold and will continue to serve as the official residence of the British High Commissioner to Singapore, BT understands.

When contacted, a spokesman for the British High Commission here said "we are currently exploring the potential sale of unused land at the Eden Hall site; no decisions have yet been made".

Looking at the site's configuration, industry players expect the two plots to be potentially carved out beside Eden Hall as follows: one fronting Nassim Road and the other behind it and with a long driveway connecting it to Nassim Road.

Assuming this scheme, Newsman Realty managing director KH Tan estimates that the plot with the Nassim Road frontage could fetch at least S$2,500 per square foot (psf) on land area while the land parcel behind it would go for a lower price, possibly S$2,250 psf, reflecting a price dilution on account of the long driveway.

A price of S$2,500 psf on a minimum GCB plot size works out to a price of S$37.7 million for the land alone. Mr Tan estimates that it would cost about S$8 million to build a bungalow on it - reflecting a total cost of S$45.7 million. That excludes the cost of fitting out and furnishing the property.

GCBs are the most prestigious type of landed housing in Singapore. URA has designated 39 locations on mainland Singapore as Good Class Bungalow Areas - with strict planning rules to preserve their exclusivity and low-rise character.

Nassim Road is considered Singapore's top GCB Area because of the scarcity of properties available for sale there. "Nassim Road has three very strong locational attributes: It is near the Singapore Botanic Gardens and the Orchard Road shopping belt in addition to being Singapore's 'Embassy Row'," said Mr Tan.

In April 2013, a company controlled by Wing Tai chairman Cheng Wai Keung and his wife Helen put up its bungalow at 33 Nassim Road on 84,839 sq ft of land on the market with a price tag of S$250-300 million - or S$2,947-3,536 psf. It has yet to be sold.

While such lofty prices have yet to be achieved, it was just two months ago that a record S$2,190 psf on land price was achieved for a GCB in Bishopsgate. The absolute price was S$33 million for the luxuriously built and furnished two-storey property, which has a basement. The three-year-old bungalow has the minimum GCB plot size.

On Nassim Road alone, there have not been any caveats lodged for GCB purchases since the S$2,000 psf that former Sincere Watch chairman Tay Liam Wee paid in early 2012 for a 23,922 sq ft vacant plot that he bought from motoring tycoon Peter Kwee in a S$47.84 million purchase. Mr Tay is expected to build a bungalow on the site.

That land parcel was one of three that were carved out from an over 100,000 sq ft site that was also once part of the Eden Hall land and which the British government sold in 2001 to Mr Kwee and popiah king Sam Goi for S$50.4 million or S$462 psf, on a net land area of 109,059 sq ft after setting aside land for drainage and roads.

The two men later split the parcel, with Mr Kwee taking the larger slice of about 63,300 sq ft, of which he sold 39,383 sq ft to tycoon Oei Siu Hoa, also known as Sukmawati Widjaja, in 2003 for S$25.5 million or S$647 psf before selling the rest of the land to Mr Tay. Mr Goi has built a house on his plot.

In December 2000, the British government divested the nearby property, Ladyvale, a stately old bungalow, for S$19.3 million or S$600 psf on the land area of 32,160 sq ft.