The en bloc bonanza reaped by the record-setting The Ardmore on Sunday has prompted the owners of Pacific Mansions units to shoot for an even higher

The en bloc bonanza reaped by the record-setting The Ardmore on Sunday has prompted the owners of Pacific Mansions units to shoot for an even higher price.

They hope to sell their 45-year-old development in River Valley Close for around $1.18 billion, or $2,400 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr) - pocketing about $4 million each in the process.

That price - if achieved - would top The Ardmore’s record $2,338 psf ppr and make the estate the first to cross the $1 billion mark for a collective sale.

Only Farrer Court in Farrer Road, with a $1.5 billion price tag, is asking for more.

The Ardmore sale has ‘given us greater confidence that what we’re expecting is not unrealistic’, said Mr Steven Ming, director of investment sales at Savills Singapore, which is marketing the site.

He added that the estate has already received ’some interest from local and overseas developers’.

But some market players were sceptical about such a high asking price yesterday.

‘It’s quite a shock,’ said one consultant. While Pacific Mansions is well located, The Ardmore’s record price comes from its ultra-prime spot in one of Singapore’s priciest residential enclaves.

Pacific Mansions will escape a development charge because it is already built up to more than the official plot ratio. The 128,306 sq ft site now has a total floor area of 493,223 sq ft.

A 36-storey project with 130 units of 3,800 sq ft each can be built on the site.

Pacific Mansions has 290 units, and each owner will get $3.9 million to $4.2 million if the sale succeeds. This is more than double what each unit can fetch individually. According to caveats, a 1,356 sq ft unit was sold last month for $1.8 million, or $1,327 psf.

Two other estates also went on sale yesterday.

Dynasty Garden Court 1 in Sixth Avenue is asking for $72 million to $74 million, or $1,043 to $1,072 psf ppr.

The 69,017 sq ft site is slated for landed housing, said Credo Real Estate, which is handling the sale. About 20 pairs of semi-detached homes can be built on the site and sold for about $3.5 million each.

Chancery Ville in Chancery Lane is also going for a collective sale with its owners asking at least $28.5 million for the 26,463 sq ft estate. But marketing agent Newman & Goh said the expected price would be nearer $30 million.

This would work out to about $1,100 psf ppr, including an estimated development charge of $330,000.

The site can be redeveloped to build 10 units of strata bungalows or 12 units of strata semi-detached houses.

After big bucks

If the sale goes through, unit owners at the ageing development stand to pocket between $3.9 million and $4.2 million each.

The targeted sale price of about 2,400 psf ppr - if achieved - would top The Ardmore’s record $2,338 psf ppr set just two days ago.

On the high expected price, Savills’ Mr Ming says the sale of The Ardmore has ‘given us even greater confidence that what we’re expecting is not unrealistic’.

Pacific Mansions and Farrer Court in Farrer Road, which has a $1.5 billion price tag, are the only estates asking for over $1 billion in the total sale price.

Source: The Straits Times, 19 June 2007