Oxley’s global play
By Michael Lim
/ The Edge Property |
Oxley Holdings executive chairman Ching Chiat Kwong started out as a niche developer who popularised micro apartments and then brought the concept into commercial, industrial and mixed-use projects. But since late 2013, Oxley has ventured overseas, buying and jointly developing mixed-use schemes with its partners in Kuala Lumpur, Phnom Penh, Batam, Myanmar, London and Dublin.
Ching sees 2017 being a whirlwind year as Oxley intends to gear up the launch of more overseas projects. For example, the company plans to launch its 590-unit SO Sofitel Residences at Oxley Towers Kuala Lumpur City Centre after Chinese New Year.
The project, located in the heart of KLCC, comprises two hotel towers with residences, a 28-storey office tower and a 100,000 sq ft retail podium linking all three towers. It will have the 181-room Jumeirah Kuala Lumpur Hotel and the 267- unit Jumeirah Living Kuala Lumpur Residences, as well as the 207-room SO Sofitel Kuala Lumpur Hotel and the 590-unit SO Sofitel within each of the two respective hotel towers.
Oxley plans to launch the residential component at Oxley Towers KLCC for sale after Chinese New Year
Source: Oxley
Since SO Sofitel Residences is a recognised international hotel-branded residential project, Oxley intends to bring it on road shows to Singapore, Hong Kong and China. It will do the same for Jumeirah Living Kuala Lumpur Residences.
Oxley has been building up a hospitality portfolio: It also owns the 302- room Shangri-La Hotel at The Peak in Phnom Penh; the 528-room Ibis and 254-room Novotel on Stevens Road (the former The Pines club) in Singapore; and the 520-room hotel at Oxley Convention City in Batam. Ching is hoping the hotels will generate recurring income and stabilise cash flow.
Oxley launched its first overseas development, Royal Wharf in East London, for sale simultaneously in London and Singapore in March 2014. It sold 50% of the 811 units released under Phase 1 in both cities on the first day. To date, Oxley has launched for sale 3,171 of the total 3,385 residential units and sold over 85% of the units in the development. It bought the 37-acre Royal Wharf site for £200 million in November 2013.
Its project in Dublin, called Dublin Landings, is a mixed-use development comprises 700,000 sq ft of flexible Grade A office and retail space, and 273 luxury residential apartments. The five new office buildings are expected to be completed by 2020, and the construction of the first two buildings (300,000 sq ft) has started. National Treasury Management Agency of Ireland is anticipated to be the first tenant, taking around 83,000 sq ft of office space.
Meanwhile, Oxley is planning to launch the residences for sale next year. The project is jointly developed by Oxley and Ballymore Group, one of the largest privately owned property groups in Europe, and is slated for completion in six years.
Construction of some of the townhouses at Royal Wharf was completed in October. To date, Oxley has sold 85% of the 3,385 residential units at Royal Wharf.
--thisisapagebreak
Phnom Penh, Batam
Oxley launched a number of its overseas projects this year. The latest was its maiden mixed-use development in Batam, Oxley Convention City, launched over the weekend of Dec 9 and 10. A 10-minute drive from the Batam Centre ferry terminal, Oxley Convention City will have three 32- storey residential towers with a total of 1,635 units, a 520-room hotel, a 29-storey office tower with 320 strata office units and 130 strata commercial units. The project sits on 280,000 sq ft of land in the city centre, and is scheduled for completion in 2019.
In Phnom Penh, Oxley and its JV partner, Worldbridge Land, have launched two of its four development projects. The first, a mixeduse development called The Bridge, is slated for completion by end-2017. To date, 96% of the 733 residential units at The Bridge have been sold, It has 963 SoHo units and 366 strata retail units, 74% and 65% of which, respectively, have been snapped up. The strata retail units were launched in Singapore in May.
Oxley’s second mixed-use development in Phnom Penh is The Peak. Construction began in March and is targeted to be completed by 2019. The Peak’s twin residential towers have 507 units each; 51% of the units in one tower have been sold, while in the other, it is just 10%. Only the residential units have been offered for sale. Oxley plans to hold on to the office and commercial units for recurring income. However, should a potential buyer come along with a good offer, “I may just consider selling it”, Ching says.
‘Keeping an eye on Singapore’
In Singapore, Oxley Tower obtained its Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) this month. All but three of its strata office floors have been sold. The company intends to use those floors as its corporate headquarters. It plans to move into the new premises in 1H2017 from its existing office at Singapore Land Tower.
Next year will see the completion of various Oxley’s projects in Singapore, such as the Ibis and Novotel on Stevens Road; the KAP & KAP Residences; a seven-storey freehold mixed-use block comprising 107 commercial units and 142 residential units in King Albert Park, in the highly sought-after Upper Bukit Timah residential enclave; the 56-unit The Flow, a commercial development with F&B, retail and medical suites on East Coast Road; the 120-unit The Rise at Oxley Residences on Oxley Road; Flora Vista and Flora View, a mixed-use development comprising 90 residential units at Flora View and 28 commercial units at Flora Vista in Ang Mo Kio; and the 45-unit Floraville, a four-storey residential development on Cactus Road, just off Yio Chu Kang Road.
Oxley Tower obtained its TOP this month and Oxley intends to use the top three floors as its corporate headquarters
NEWest, a mixed-use development on West Coast Drive comprising 141 strata commercial and 136 residential units, obtained TOP this year. Following that, Oxley and its JV partners Unique Consortium (a subsidiary of listed KSH Holdings) and Goldprime Investment (a subsidiary of Lian Beng Group) sold NEWest’s remaining commercial units. The project is fully sold to date.
At The Rise @ Oxley, another 50 units have been sold to date, with another 20 more still available. Oxley is planning to bring some of the remaining units to Hong Kong in February.
Even as he traverses the globe in search of the next development, Ching says he will still “keep an eye out” for opportunities to acquire land in Singapore. “It’s still a key market for Oxley because it’s stable and it’s our home. Sadly, even though the govern ment’s cooling measures are still in place, land prices have not really gone down. In fact, land prices have gone up and so has construction cost,” he adds.
This article appeared in The Edge Property Pullout, Issue 760 (Dec 26, 2016) of The Edge Singapore.
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