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Published October 12, 2011

Good reception seen for mixed use site in Bukit Panjang

By UMA SHANKARI


THE Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday launched a commercial and residential site at the junction of Jelebu Road and Petir Road for sale by public tender.

The 99-year leasehold land parcel, which is adjacent to the existing Bukit Panjang LRT station and the upcoming Bukit Panjang MRT Station, is well positioned to be an attractive mixed-use development, with retail, F&B and residential uses, the government agency said.

The land parcel has a site area of 1.89 ha and a maximum permissible gross floor area (GFA) of about 612,000 sq ft. To provide more commercial facilities within Bukit Panjang, around 214,000 sq ft of the GFA has to be set aside for commercial uses, URA said.

The tender for the site will close at noon on Nov 30.

Analysts expect to see good interest in the site.

'Market response in previous tenders for commercial and residential sites which are centrally located in HDB heartlands, and in close proximity to transportation nodes, has usually been favourable,' said said Credo Real Estate executive director Ong Teck Hui.

'We may expect six to 10 bidders with a top bid of between $600 to $700 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).'

But one analyst, who declined to be named, said that interest may be 'modest'. 'Although there are recent cases of encouraging response for state land tenders, I reckon that those bids are opportunistic - likely from developers who observed that general buying interest for land has softened and thought it might be a good chance to try for land at realistic prices,' he said.

A commercial and residential site in Punggol Central was sold for $1.02 billion - or $753 psf ppr - to Frasers Centrepoint, Far East Organization and Japan's Sekisui House in Feb 2011.

And before that, in in September 2010, another mixed use site in New Upper Changi Road and Bedok North Drive went for $788.9 million or $841 psf ppr. That site was won by a joint venture between CapitaLand and CapitaMalls Asia.