Four condos up for en bloc sale

Derby Court is a freehold condominium development located at 5, Derbyshire Road in District 11 near Novena MRT station. (Photo: JLL)

Four residential developments, including the iconic Pearlbank Apartments in Outram, have been put up in separate tenders for en bloc sale. The others are Parkway Mansion in Katong, Riviera Point along River Valley Road and Derby Court near Novena.

With a 99-year leasehold tenure that started in June 1970, Pearlbank Apartments has 288 units, which includes eight commercial units.

The horseshoe-shaped development carries a reserve price of $728 million, which works out to a land cost of around $1,505 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr), after factoring in an upgrading premium of about $195 million for the lease top-up. No development charge is payable for the site.

Apartment owners, whose unit sizes range between 123 sq m and 371 sq m, “stand to receive minimum gross prices of between $1.8 million and $4.9 million”, while commercial unit owners, with sizes ranging from 65 sq m to 523 sq m, could receive $1.2 million to $6.9 million, said marketing agent Colliers International, which is also the agent for Parkway Mansion.

The 32-unit Parkway Mansion has an indicative price of $138 million, which excludes an estimated development charge of about $21 million “payable to the state for the intensification of land use”.

But when taken together, the combined amount translates to a land rate of $1,454 psf ppr. “This compares favourably against the land rate of $1,515 psf ppr for Amber Park,” noted Colliers.

With this, each owner could receive $4.2 million to $4.4 million in gross proceeds from the sale, depending on the size of their unit.

Colliers revealed that the two developments have undergone various en bloc attempts, with Pearlbank now at its fourth bid and third for Parkway Mansion.

“We expect the two tenders to attract keen interest among both local and foreign developers amid the strong demand for development sites via the Government Land Sales programme and the collective sale market,” said Colliers managing director Tang Wei Leng.

Meanwhile, Riviera Point has a reserve price of $75 million, while 20-unit Derby Court has set a reserve price of $62 million.

Derby Court’s reserve price translates to a land rate of about $1,168 psf ppr, based on the development’s “as-built” gross plot ratio of about 2.869.

“Factoring in the 10 percent bonus balcony plot ratio, the effective land rate is only $1,062 psf ppr. Development charge is not payable for the proposed redevelopment even with this additional bonus 10 percent balcony GFA,” said Tan Hong Boon, regional director at JLL, which is the property’s marketing agent.

The tenders for all developments will close in December.

 

This article was edited by Keshia Faculin.