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mr funny
01-06-10, 22:17
http://www.straitstimes.com/Singapore/Story/STIStory_532378.html

May 28, 2010

RGS site could be worth billions if sold: Analysts


ITS students may be sad to see it go, but property developers will be eagerly eyeing the plum plot of land that Raffles Girls' School (RGS) will leave behind if it relocates.

The school now sits on a prized centrally located site that is likely to be worth billions if it is converted into a residential plot, property consultants said yesterday.

'This is a very, very prime site,' said Mr Ho Eng Joo, executive director of investment sales at real estate firm Colliers International.

'It's been quite a long time since this kind of prime site has been released in the market, and at this size. There are no comparables, it's priceless,' he added.

RGS occupies one of the most coveted plots of land in Singapore, bounded on all four sides by some of the country's priciest residential areas: Ardmore Park, Draycott Park, Stevens Road and Anderson Road.

Given the location, the size of the plot is massive: 4.5ha, or 10 times the size of nearby The Ardmore and almost five times that of Anderson 18. It is about the size of the sprawling Ardmore Park.

Mr Ho believes the site could go for $1.6 billion to $2 billion, based on a plot ratio of 2.8, which is similar to that of nearby developments. This would work out to about $1,400 per sq ft (psf) of the total floor area, which could amount to 1.35 million sq ft.

Ms Chua Chor Hoon, head of South-east Asia research at DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, has an even higher estimate at well over $2 billion. This is based on a possible selling price of $2,800 to $3,200 psf of the final units in the development.

If the Government decides to sell the land as 99-year leasehold residential plots, it will probably parcel it out into more easily digestible pieces, consultants said.

Nearby land plots have sold for record prices. In 2007, SC Global bought The Ardmore, with a freehold land area of about 0.4ha, for $262 million, or a record $2,337 psf of gross floor area.

Back in 1999, Wing Tai paid $1,100 psf for its Draycott 8 site, at the time a record price for 99-year leasehold land.

FIONA CHAN

mr funny
01-06-10, 22:18
http://www.straitstimes.com/Singapore/Story/STIStory_532379.html

May 28, 2010

Raffles Girls' School may be relocating

School may move closer to RI, due to Integrated Programme

By Liew Hanqing


FOLLOWING in the footsteps of school families coming together, Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) (RGS) looks set to become a neighbour of its brother school, Raffles Institution (RI).

While the school would neither confirm nor deny the move, it admitted that its current site at Anderson Road was no longer adequate for its growing co-curricular activity (CCA) needs.

Responding to queries from The Straits Times, principal Julie Hoo said: 'Our current campus at Anderson Road is good; there are, however, many new programmes and initiatives with the Raffles Programme in RGS. These are creating a need for more - and different - facilities.'

The school's population has hovered at the 1,800 mark the past few years.

The Raffles Programme is the six-year Integrated Programme which sees girls from RGS and boys from RI progress directly to the A levels at RI without having to take the O levels.

Other school families that have come together include the Hwa Chong family, comprising Nanyang Girls' High School and Hwa Chong Institution in Bukit Timah Road, and the Saint Andrew's family, comprising the junior and secondary schools and the junior college at Potong Pasir.

Sources said it is likely RGS will occupy the former Braddell-Westlake Secondary School site along Braddell Road, across the road from RI. A Ministry of Education (MOE) spokesman would say only that development plans for RGS were 'under review'.

Mrs Hoo said the school had approached MOE last year to help provide additional venues for CCA groups to hold practice sessions.

'MOE kindly agreed and allowed for a few of our CCA groups to train at the Braddell-Westlake site, which is conveniently located not too far from RGS,' Mrs Hoo said.

A spokesman for the Urban Redevelopment Authority said the site area of RGS' Anderson Road campus is about 4.5ha, while the Braddell-Westlake site is about 7.4ha, or slightly more than 1.5 times RGS' present size.

Alumnae responses to a potential relocation were mixed.

Miss Rachelle Goh, 25, a marketing executive, said: 'I feel that the soul is lost when you up and move from a place with so much history. It won't be the same.'

But not all alumnae are against the move.

Ms Chua Soh Kheng, 59, deputy president of SGP International Academy, said: 'A bigger campus with more modern facilities and resources would provide a better learning environment for the students, and support the school's needs.'

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new2mondrian
02-06-10, 19:25
Not all things have a price to it, and the old RGS campus has a rich history and priceless memories. Hopefully the move won't materialise... and even if it eventually does, the Govt will preserve the original compounds and put it to some alternative uses.

lancelot
02-06-10, 19:48
Not all things have a price to it, and the old RGS campus has a rich history and priceless memories. Hopefully the move won't materialise... and even if it eventually does, the Govt will preserve the original compounds and put it to some alternative uses.

Almost certainly the move will happen. The RGS parent forum was discussing this in January. Talk is that the move will happen in 2014. New site is expected to be at old Braddell-Westlake school. I wonder if this will push up prices of homes nearby private estates like Braddell View, Thomson 800, Trevista, Oleander and Trellis.

new2mondrian
02-06-10, 19:58
Almost certainly the move will happen. The RGS parent forum was discussing this in January. Talk is that the move will happen in 2014. New site is expected to be at old Braddell-Westlake school. I wonder if this will push up prices of homes nearby private estates like Braddell View, Thomson 800, Trevista, Oleander and Trellis.

Oh dear.... that's very sad. At first they changed the RJC name to RI, then they moved RGS all the way to Bishan. Sigh... :( Guess the next change might just be that RGS will be called RI too. :banghead:

bargain hunter
03-06-10, 00:43
but its RGS sec which is moving there not RGS pri. usually the effect on the prices of homes nearby is not so great?



Almost certainly the move will happen. The RGS parent forum was discussing this in January. Talk is that the move will happen in 2014. New site is expected to be at old Braddell-Westlake school. I wonder if this will push up prices of homes nearby private estates like Braddell View, Thomson 800, Trevista, Oleander and Trellis.

devilplate
03-06-10, 01:01
i aso believe not much impact on prices.