Singapore Land has acquired Himiko Court at Ridgewood Close in the Mount Sinai area for $336 million, or $821 psf of potential gross floor area

Singapore Land has acquired Himiko Court at Ridgewood Close in the Mount Sinai area for $336 million, or $821 psf of potential gross floor area, inclusive of an estimated $1.07 million development charge.

DTZ Debenham Tie Leung brokered the collective sale, which sets a new benchmark for the Mount Sinai area and which will be closely watched by owners of nearby properties, including Ridgewood Condo next door.

Himiko Court’s unit land price is 143 per cent higher than the $338 psf per plot ratio that Ho Bee paid in April 2004 for the former Yang’s Garden Village site next door, which it is deve loping into the Montville condo.

Prior to yesterday’s deal, the record for land price in the Mount Sinai area is said to have been the $533 psf ppr that Pidemco Land (now CapitaLand) paid for the Grenville condo site in January 2000.

Vito Koh, the group general manager of SingLand and its parent United Industrial Corporation, estimates the break-even cost for a new condo project on the 195,400 sq ft freehold Himiko site to be about $1,150 to $1,200 psf.

‘We plan to develop a condo with over 300 units and hope to market it next year,’ he said.

Himiko Court is zoned for residential use with a 2.1 plot ratio (ratio of maximum potential gross floor area to land area) and a maximum height of 24 storeys.

The collective sale to SingLand is subject to approval from the Strata Titles Board.

Owners of Himiko Court’s 177 units will receive sums ranging from $1.6 million to $3.9 million, depending on the size of their units, which vary from 1,076 sq ft to 3,692 sq ft, says DTZ director Tang Wei Leng. The $363 million price for Himiko Court works out to an average of $1,293 psf based on the existing development’s strata area.

DTZ has brokered over $2 billion worth of collective sale deals since the start of the year. Last week, it handled the $835 million or $1,062 psf ppr sale of Leedon Heights to GuocoLand.

‘Based on these latest prices achieved, it looks like developers are looking at selling prices for new projects of around $1,800 to $2,000 psf in the Leedon/Holland location and of about $1,500 to $1,600 psf in the Mount Sinai area,’ according to Savills Singapore managing director Michael Ng.

His firm is the marketing agent for the 672,000 sq ft Ridgewood Condo site next door and is in the midst of securing the requisite minimum 80 per cent consent level from owners.

Assuming a price of $800 to $821 psf ppr, the Ridgewood site could be worth over $1.1 billion.

The UIC group has been stepping up its property acquisitions.

Last month, UIC bought its namesake Shenton Way office building for $600 million, and is expected to redevelop it into a residential project.

This weekend, UIC is previewing Northwood, a 140-unit freehold condo off Sembawang Road.

It is expected to release a 203-unit freehold condo in the Jalan Jurong Kechil location towards the end of the year.

Source: The Business Times, 03 May 2007