SC Global makes top bid for Sentosa site

It offered $268.3m for a 99-year leasehold condo plot near Tanjong Beach

LUXURY residential developer SC Global Developments has finally made a catch at Sentosa Cove.

It yesterday placed the top bid of $268.3 million - $1,799.78 psf of potential gross floor area - for a 99-year leasehold condo plot next to Tanjong Beach, according to provisional tender results.

This is around 32 per cent higher than the previous record for condo land in the area, of $1,361 psf per plot ratio, set in March this year, by a Ho Bee-IOI joint venture. That was for The Seaview Collection plot, which can be built up to eight storeys high.

The Ho Bee-IOI tie-up is believed to have emerged as the second-highest bidder at yesterday’s tender for the The Beachfront Collection. Its bid was around 3 per cent below SC Global’s.

SC Global had bid for earlier sites on Sentosa Cove but not aggressively, says it chairman and CEO Simon Cheong.

‘We’ve been waiting for this site. This is a rare site on Sentosa Cove - the only site where you can come out of your condo and walk directly to Tanjong Beach. We’ll be able to create on this plot a product which is synonymous with the SC Global branding.

‘This is also the only condo plot on Sentosa Cove flanked by the sea and the golf course.’

Mr Cheong could not say just how many apartments he is planning to develop on the site, but the maximum allowed by Sentosa Cove Pte Ltd - the master planner for the upmarket waterfront district - for the plot is 88 units. The 113,797 sq ft plot has a 1.31 plot ratio (ratio of maximum potential gross floor area to land area) and a four-storey height limit.

Analysts reckon SC Global’s break-even cost for a new condo on the site could be around $2,300 to $2,400 psf.

The project should be launch-ready in Q3 next year. Based on SC Global’s track record of commanding premium prices for its projects, it would not be surprising if it is hoping for an average selling price of $3,000 psf or higher, market watchers reckon. Currently, subsale prices at condos on Sentosa Cove are said to have surpassed the $2,300 psf mark.

Yesterday’s tender drew a total of five bids. Besides the bids from SC Global and the Ho Bee-IOI tie-up, the other contenders are said to include Frasers Centrepoint and Hong Leong.

Source: The Business Times, 25 July 2007