Residents and tenants preparing for changes

[reporter2]

http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/...anges-20120831

Residents and tenants preparing for changes

Published on Aug 31, 2012

By Walter Sim


A DAY after news broke of the land acquisition for the new Thomson MRT Line, residents and shopkeepers at Pearls Centre in Eu Tong Sen Street were taking stock of the changes ahead.

They will have two years to relocate and some are seeking more time.

The 23-storey strata-titled property, which was completed in 1977, will make way for the Outram Park interchange station.

Most said they expected to face stiff competition in their search for an alternative location, given that all the occupants of the building's 44 residential units and its 243 shopkeeper tenants would be on the hunt.

"I hope there will be priority for us when we try to secure shop space elsewhere," said seamstress Karen Ow, 60, who has been renting a store specialising in cosplay and clothes alterations since 2001.

She was keen to stay on in Chinatown but said she was prepared to adapt: "In the worst scenario I'll shift my business online - I'm trying to learn about the Internet from my daughters."

Mr Selvam Komarasu, 45, director of a family-owned lottery business, said it has been operating in the centre since 1977. His family had also moved into a unit on the 20th floor of the building in 1992.

But he was not sentimental about the change. He said he was hoping for the best from a meeting with government officials in October, when he hoped to get an indication of the compensation.

Tomorrow, Ms Indranee Rajah, MP for the area, will be meeting some tenants to understand their concerns.

The Singapore Land Authority has said that compensation will be pegged to the market value of the property at the date of acquisition.

As a gauge, a 753 sq ft residential unit on the 13th floor was sold for $700,000 in February, and a 560 sq ft commercial unit on the fourth floor for $680,000 in June.

Residents in other areas to be acquired for the line were also preparing for the changes ahead.

Among these acquisitions are two landed properties. One is a bungalow in Stevens Road which is said to be rented out. Its owners could not be contacted.

The other is a bungalow owned by Mrs Grace Young, 90, on a land plot measuring nearly 11,000 sq ft in Robin Close.

Five other part lots of land will also be acquired by the Government.

In these cases, the main building structure will not be affected but some other minor changes will be required.

In Toa Payoh Rise, the open area of Lighthouse School, which teaches visually handicapped and hearing-impaired children, will be acquired, as will part of the entrance of the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped.

The boundary walls of Singapore Chinese Girls' School in Dunearn Road and condominium Yong An Park in River Valley Road will also need to be shifted, as will a grass patch near the office block of Great World City.

A spokesman for Great World City, which does not have an MRT station adjacent to it now, said she does not foresee much inconvenience for shoppers during construction.

"The increased foot traffic will definitely be a benefit for us when the station opens," she said.

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[alamak]

http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/...anges-20120831

Residents and tenants preparing for changes

Published on Aug 31, 2012

By Walter Sim


A DAY after news broke of the land acquisition for the new Thomson MRT Line, residents and shopkeepers at Pearls Centre in Eu Tong Sen Street were taking stock of the changes ahead.

They will have two years to relocate and some are seeking more time.

The 23-storey strata-titled property, which was completed in 1977, will make way for the Outram Park interchange station.

Most said they expected to face stiff competition in their search for an alternative location, given that all the occupants of the building's 44 residential units and its 243 shopkeeper tenants would be on the hunt.

"I hope there will be priority for us when we try to secure shop space elsewhere," said seamstress Karen Ow, 60, who has been renting a store specialising in cosplay and clothes alterations since 2001.

She was keen to stay on in Chinatown but said she was prepared to adapt: "In the worst scenario I'll shift my business online - I'm trying to learn about the Internet from my daughters."

Mr Selvam Komarasu, 45, director of a family-owned lottery business, said it has been operating in the centre since 1977. His family had also moved into a unit on the 20th floor of the building in 1992.

But he was not sentimental about the change. He said he was hoping for the best from a meeting with government officials in October, when he hoped to get an indication of the compensation.

Tomorrow, Ms Indranee Rajah, MP for the area, will be meeting some tenants to understand their concerns.

The Singapore Land Authority has said that compensation will be pegged to the market value of the property at the date of acquisition.

As a gauge, a 753 sq ft residential unit on the 13th floor was sold for $700,000 in February, and a 560 sq ft commercial unit on the fourth floor for $680,000 in June.

Residents in other areas to be acquired for the line were also preparing for the changes ahead.

Among these acquisitions are two landed properties. One is a bungalow in Stevens Road which is said to be rented out. Its owners could not be contacted.

The other is a bungalow owned by Mrs Grace Young, 90, on a land plot measuring nearly 11,000 sq ft in Robin Close.

Five other part lots of land will also be acquired by the Government.

In these cases, the main building structure will not be affected but some other minor changes will be required.

In Toa Payoh Rise, the open area of Lighthouse School, which teaches visually handicapped and hearing-impaired children, will be acquired, as will part of the entrance of the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped.

The boundary walls of Singapore Chinese Girls' School in Dunearn Road and condominium Yong An Park in River Valley Road will also need to be shifted, as will a grass patch near the office block of Great World City.

A spokesman for Great World City, which does not have an MRT station adjacent to it now, said she does not foresee much inconvenience for shoppers during construction.

"The increased foot traffic will definitely be a benefit for us when the station opens," she said.

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Actually if you carefully examined the layout of the Outram Park station station , the Pearl Centre could easily been spared. I suspect the acquisition has more to do with the later (future) development potential of the plot like a Tanjong Pagar MRT scenario. The plot is sizeable for a mixed development. See for yourself. Think about it. LTA /URA /SLA chiow Kuan

[radha08]

Actually if you carefully examined the layout of the Outram Park station station , the Pearl Centre could easily been spared. I suspect the acquisition has more to do with the later (future) development potential of the plot like a Tanjong Pagar MRT scenario. The plot is sizeable for a mixed development. See for yourself. Think about it. LTA /URA /SLA chiow Kuan

good point

[reporter2]

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/arch...-line-20120830

Published August 30, 2012

Land lots to be acquired for new line

Pearls Centre, and some landed properties among those affected

By Nisha Ramchandani AND Mindy Tan


[SINGAPORE] The $18 billion Thomson Line will see its first phase commencing in 2019, one year later than originally expected under the 2008 Land Transport Masterplan.

To make way for the line, the government will have to acquire four full lots of land - which will affect Pearls Centre on Eu Tong Sen Street, a post office at Upper Thomson Road and two landed properties along Stevens Road and Robin Close - as well as five other part lots of land.

Singapore's sixth MRT line will span a total of 30km, some 3km longer than initially planned, and at 22 stations it will offer four more stations. Starting in the Woodlands North area, the line will pass through industrial estate Sin Ming, then Thomson, Orchard and Marina before ending at the Gardens by the Bay - essentially running through the north-south corridor.

"We have decided that the Thomson Line would be a four-car system, instead of a three-car system, to give us additional capacity to cope with any increase in long-term demand," said Minister for Transport Lui Tuck Yew.

"Residents in the heartlands of Sembawang, Nee Soon, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan-Toa Payoh and Moulmein-Kallang will benefit from faster and more direct connections to the city," he added.

Thomson Line will be launched progressively in three stages from the north to the south - with three stations from Woodlands North to Woodlands South ready by 2019, six stations from Springleaf to Caldecott ready in 2020, and the final 13 stations from Mount Pleasant to the Gardens by the Bay fully operational by 2021.

The fully underground line will have six interchange stations, which will link it to the other five lines - the East-West line, the North-South line, the North-East line, the Circle Line as well as the upcoming Downtown Line - to increase accessibility and cut down travelling time for commuters.

For instance, a commuter travelling from Sin Ming to Republic Polytechnic would typically take 50 minutes to travel today, but with the Thomson Line, travel time will be cut by half to 25 minutes. Similarly, a traveller going from Springleaf Estate to Great World City will take 35 minutes with the Thomson Line, compared to an hour presently.

Some 400,000 commuters are expected to use the line daily in its early years.

Once it is fully up and running, at least 60,000 households will be within 400m of a Thomson Line station, while another 100,000 households will be 400m to 800m, or a 10-12 minute walk, away.

In a joint statement yesterday, the Land Transport Authority (LTA), Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said that while all efforts had been made to minimise land acquisition, a total of some 12,977.7 sq m (about 139,690.7 sq ft) of area will be acquired. Acquisition costs are covered under the $18 billion price tag.

"In accordance with the Land Acquisition Act, compensation will be pegged to the market value of the property as at the date of the acquisition of the land," said an SLA spokesman. "The compensation will take into consideration past transactions, and the condition of the acquired property, among other factors. The compensation will also take into account reasonable expenses, (for example) legal fees, relocation costs, stamp duties where applicable."

Specifically, Pearls Centre will be affected by the Thomson Line construction, as a tunnel will run under part of the building. Following the acquisition, the site will be integrated with the adjoining state land for a high-density mixed-use development to optimise land use around the future Thomson Line station at Outram Park.

Credo's managing director Karamjit Singh noted: "The owners of Pearls Centre could have chosen the en bloc route. How compensation will compare against the en bloc potential is something that remains to be seen."

Five other lots will see part of their area acquired, but this will not affect the main building structure. These include the open area in front of Lighthouse School along Toa Payoh Rise, and the open area and a bit of the entrance of the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped.

Great World City will lose some of the grass patch in front of the building, while Singapore Chinese Girls' School will see its boundary wall and tennis court affected.

The Yong An Park condominium at River Valley Road will have its boundary fence pushed back.