Aura Park at Holland Road

Lippo Realty has bought Aura Park at Holland Road near the Botanic Gardens for $55.5 million or about $1,280 per square foot (psf) of potential gross floor area - a fresh high for the location.

The price is inclusive of development charges (DC) estimated at $8.5 million, but this is subject to verification of the site’s development baseline.

The collective sale of the 35,724-sq-ft freehold site was brokered by Savills Singapore, which is also marketing Tulip Garden nearby. The property consultancy declined to give an update on negotiations for Tulip Garden, whose tender closed last week. Negotiations are currently under way for the 316,709-sq-ft site which has a 1.6 plot ratio and an estimated $30 million DC.

Aura Park, which is about 20 years old, is a four-storey development with 28 existing units. Aura Park is zoned for residential use with a 1.4 plot ratio (ratio of maximum potential gross floor area to land area) and a four-storey maximum height.

Market watchers reckon Lippo’s breakeven cost for a new high-end apartment project could hit around $1,900 to $2,000 psf, depending on just how posh the new project is. ‘We’ve not worked out the details, but we’re looking at a luxury boutique development which we should be able to launch sometime next year,’ Lippo Realty executive director Thio Gim Hock said when contacted by BT.

Aura Park is almost opposite Tuan Sing’s Botanika development, where it sold 12 units through auction in April, at prices ranging from $1,710 psf to $2,420 psf. The average price achieved was $2,040 psf.

Next to Aura Park is Carlton Terrace, which Bukit Sembawang bought in late 2005 for $541 psf per plot ratio (ppr). The most recent transaction in the area involved Leedon Heights, which was sold in April for $835 million or $1,062 psf ppr. The site has a 1.6 plot ratio and 12-storey maximum height. Another nearby collective sale was that of Holland Crest, which was bought by BBR Holdings for $70.6 million or $837 psf ppr, in March.

Source: The Business Times, 18 June 2007