RECALLING: June 18 2007

June 17, 2017 8:30 AM SGT

Join our Telegram channel and follow our Facebook for the latest update.

CapitaLand buys Char Yong Gardens for $420 million

CapitaLand has signed a sale and purchase agreement to acquire Char Yong Gardens for $420 million through a collective sale brokered by Jones Lang LaSalle. The total cost, which includes a $47 million development charge, works out to $1,788 psf/ppr. The 93,274 sq ft freehold site in the prime Orchard Road District has a gross plot ratio of 2.8. There are currently 106 apartments.

CapitaLand is in discussion with Wachovia Development Corp to jointly redevelop the site into a 20-storey condominium with 130 apartments. Wachovia is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wachovia Corp, one of the largest diversified financial services groups in the US.

Source: CapitaLand

Keppel Land banks on Vietnam residential market

Keppel Land, through its wholly owned subsidiary Elaenia, has entered a joint venture (JV) with Vietnam property developer Tan Truong to build luxury condos on a 916,232 sq ft site fronting Ca Cam River in Ho Chi Minh City. The new waterfront development follows two recently formed JVs to develop prime residential sites in the same city: the 4.8ha The Estella, a 1.7ha waterfront residential project fronting the Saigon River and the sold-out Villa Riviera, an exclusive enclave of waterfront villas.

The new development has 1,640ft of river frontage and will feature 2,400 apartments and recreational facilities. The total investment capital for the project, to be released in phases, is US$146 million ($225 million), with Elaenia holding a 75% stake in the venture.

$45 million asking price for Alexandra Centre collective sale

CB Richard Ellis has launched the collective sale of Alexandra Centre on Alexandra Road. The 50,838 sq ft site is zoned residential with commercial at the first storey. Maximum height is four storeys and the allowable plot ratio is three. There are 12 groundfloor shops and 12 apartments at the 25-year-old centre. The asking price is $45 million plus an estimated development charge of $1.21 million, assuming the site is developed to the maximum plot ratio. The tender closes on July 12 at 3pm.

Beachfront Sentosa Cove site goes to tender

The Beachfront Collection, a parcel of prime land in the southernmost corner of Sentosa Cove, has been launched for tender. The site, accessible only to residents of Sentosa Cove’s gated community, will enable a developer to create Singapore’s first and only beachfront residential apartments. The 113,797 sq ft site, with a maximum permissible gross floor area of 149,074 sq ft, is envisaged to house a four-storey condominium with up to 88 luxury apartments. The property overlooks Sentosa’s Tanjong Beach and the Tanjong Golf Course.

Property consultant CBRE announced that it expects the land price for the site to be between $160 million and $186 million, or $1,100 to $1,250 psf/ppr. In March, Ho Bee Developments and IOI Properties bid for and won The Seaview Collection for $459.83 million, or $1,361 psf. The site can be developed into an eight-storey development of 200 units. Overseas developers can participate in the tender, which closes on July 24.

Temasek-linked companies sign JVs with Abu Dhabi heavyweights

CapitaLand and Mubadala Development Co have signed a JV to develop and manage a prime integrated real estate development in the heart of Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. The 15 million sq ft project, surrounding the existing Zayed Sports City Stadium, includes residential, retail, sports and leisure components. Mubadala, a strategic investment and development vehicle established and wholly owned by the Emirates govern ment, will hold a 51% stake. CapitaLand will hold the remaining 49% interest. The partners have committed to investing an initial US$300 million. The project is expected to be completed in four to five years and the estimated value is US$5 billion. The first phase will have a mix of residential, with 1,000 apartments, and commercial.

Meanwhile, Keppel Land and ALDAR Properties will jointly develop two prime waterfront developments in Abu Dhabi. The first, within the vast Al Muneera project at Al Raha Beach, will involve the construction of 1,198 apartments, 168 townhouses and 11 villas. The JV’s second develop ment is 3,000 residential units on Yas Island, directly opposite the Al Muneera site. The 2,500ha island is positioned to be a world-class leisure destination with motor sports, signature hotels, golf courses and polo fields.

Ascendas launches $500 million Indian fund

Ascendas has launched its $500 million Ascendas India Development Trust (AIDT). The fund, which has a target asset size of $1 billion, will invest in integrated development real estate projects, including complementary land for industrial, commercial, residential and retail use. Ascendas will develop the business space within these projects.

The AIDT is the first development fund to be launched by Ascendas, following the $250 million equity Ascendas India IT Parks Trust launched in June 2005. The recently announced investments in International Tech Parks at Pune and Nagpur will be executed through the AIDT. Aside from Ascendas, other investors in the eight-year term fund include the Bahrain-based alternative asset manager Arcapita and ING Private Banking, the Dutch financial institution. Ascendas’ India portfolio has seven IT parks in five key cities.

Vita raises $13 million to develop hotels

Vita Holdings, a shipping and property leasing and management group, is raising up to $13 million to develop hotels in Singapore and Asia. Controlling shareholders Kingley Agents and Winstedt Chong will grant Vita a three-year, $10 million interest-free convertible loan. The money will be used to refurbish a 12-storey building into a boutique 130-room business hotel at Pearl’s Hill, Singapore and for other potential hotel developments in Singapore and the region. Vita is negotiating to jointly develop a four-star hotel with 350 rooms in Hanoi, Vietnam. Chong will also exercise 25 million warrants he holds to inject another $3 million in cash into Vita.

Source: Vita Holdings

Frasers buys historic Sydney brewery site

Frasers Property, the international property arm of Frasers Centrepoint, has successfully tendered for the 5.7ha Carlton and United Breweries (CUB) site in Sydney, paying the Foster’s Group A$208 million ($268 million). The acquisition doubles Frasers’ development portfolio in Australasia to A$4 billion. The group is developing and planning more than 5,500 homes in Australia and New Zealand. The CUB site, which is close to the Town Hall, is the single largest remaining development plot within Sydney’s city fringe. Several heritage buildings on the historic 160-year-old brewery site will be retained and refurbished during the six-to-eight-year development to include 1,600 apartments and 958,000 sq ft of commercial and retail space.

Return of the Real Estate Investment World

Coming up on June 25 to 28 is Real Estate Investment World Asia 2007, which will be held in Raffles City Convention Centre. In its sixth year, the conference attracts the hottest names in real estate today. The key attraction in this coming conference is the CEO leadership panel, which will have among its panellists the likes of Stephen Riady, deputy chairman of Lippo Group; Tan Sri Datuk David Chiu, CEO of Far East Consortium; and Pua Seck Guan, CEO of CapitaLand Retail Ltd and Capita Mall Trust Management Ltd.

Experts who will be talking about REITs and flow of private equity money include the likes of blue-chip investment bankers from Citigroup Property Investors, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs. With Vietnam currently the hottest destination for fund flows, there will be a new segment on the country with a panel discussion on Ho Chi Minh.

URA releases new sites for sale

The URA announced last Thursday the release of 15 new sites in its Government Land Sales Programme for 2H. Of these, eight are residential sites mainly in the city fringes, such as Alexandra Road, Tiong Bahru and Bishan, or in the suburbs of Sembawang, Tanah Merah and Yishun. There are also two commercial sites and a white site at Marina Bay for a mixed development and four hotel sites. The release of more land sites will do no more than provide a psychological signal to investors and developers and will not ease the current supply crunch situation from now till end-2009 or early 2010, when the new supply comes on stream.

“The nature of real estate is such that supply will always lag behind demand since construction takes time,” says Tay Huey Ying, director of research and consultancy at Colliers International. In the meantime, to address the concerns of spiralling business costs, which is eroding Singapore’s competitiveness, Tay suggests that a more immediate measure could be through aggressive tax incentives or concessions for companies hit by a huge spike in office rents and ballooning housing allowance for expat staff as a result of the hike in apartment rents.

— Compiled by Mark Henderson

Follow our channels to receive property news updates 24/7 round the clock.

Subscribe to our newsletter