HIAP Hoe and sister company SuperBowl Holdings have jointly bought a freehold site at Balmoral Road for $138 million, the two companies said yesterday

HIAP Hoe and sister company SuperBowl Holdings have jointly bought a freehold site at Balmoral Road for $138 million, the two companies said yesterday.

The price paid for The Aspine in a collective sale works out to $1,870 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).

The site has a land area of 46,100 sq ft and a 1.6 plot ratio, giving it a potential gross floor area of 73,800 sq ft.

Hiap Hoe and SuperBowl are looking to build 39 luxurious boutique apartments averaging 1,800 sq ft to 2,000 sq ft per unit, they said. Up to 12 storeys can be built.

The developers bought the site through their joint venture vehicle Hiap Hoe SuperBowl JV. Hiap Hoe and SuperBowl hold 60 per cent and 40 per cent of the JV company respectively.

Hiap Hoe and SuperBowl count Hiap Hoe Holdings Pte Ltd as a major shareholder. Hiap Hoe Holdings Pte Ltd held 73.6 per cent of Hiap Hoe and 69.6 per cent of SuperBowl as at March 12, 2007.

SuperBowl’s share of the tender price comes to $55.2 million and will be financed through internal resources and/or borrowings, the company said.

This tender is the second successful joint bid between Hiap Hoe and SuperBowl. The two companies partnered each other in the past and won the tender for Goodluck View for $73.3 million about four months ago.

‘The Balmoral area is attractive for its close proximity to highly popular schools and Orchard Road, and we believe that there is still good upside for re-developed properties in this vicinity,’ said Hiap Hoe managing director Teo Ho Beng.

With this latest acquisition, Hiap Hoe’s land bank will increase to more than 600,000 sq ft of gross floor area.

Separately, GuocoLand said on Sunday that it has successfully tendered for the en bloc purchase of Toho Garden near the Serangoon Gardens area for $62.5 million.

The price works out to some $594 psf ppr including a development charge of $9.8 million.

The freehold Toho Garden has a land area of 86,900 sq ft and a 1.4 plot ratio, giving it a potential gross floor area of 121,600 sq ft.

The purchase marks GuocoLand’s fifth land acquisition since 2006. Together, the five sites will boost the developer’s land bank in Singapore to just under two million sq ft of gross floor area, it said.

For Toho Garden, GuocoLand proposes to develop a five-storey condominium with about 100 apartments.

Both projects were marketed by Newman & Goh.

Source : Business Times - 23 October 2007