A consortium led by Far East Organization has been awarded a plum commercial and residential site in Holland Road, with a winning bid of $1.213 billion or nearly $1,888 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), which awarded the 99-year leasehold site yesterday, said the winning bid was the highest of the five shortlisted tenderers for the dual-envelope (concept and price) tender.
Far East's fellow consortium members are Sekisui House and Sino Group.
The other four shortlisted bids came from a consortium comprising GuocoLand, Hong Leong Holdings, TID and Hong Realty, which bid $1.06 billion or $1,650 psf ppr; a tie-up between Perennial Real Estate Holdings and Qingjian Realty, which bid $1.055 billion or $1,641 psf ppr; a CapitaLand and Hotel Properties tie-up, which bid $1.02 billion or $1,585 psf ppr; and a Pontiac Land and Lendlease tie-up, which bid $950 million or $1,478 psf ppr.
The five bids were shortlisted from 15 received for the tender, which closed in March. The bids were submitted by 10 consortiums.
Three consortiums submitted two bids each, while the Far East-led partnership submitted three bids. Tenderers that submitted multiple bids had different concept proposals for each bid.
All bidders were required to submit their concept proposals and tender prices in two separate envelopes. Only the envelopes containing the concept proposals were opened on the day when the tender closed, and URA released on the same evening the name of the bidders but not the bid prices.
A committee then evaluated the proposals against the evaluation criteria. All tenderers were given the opportunity to present and explain their concepts to the committee.
The five shortlisted had substantially satisfied the evaluation criteria, said URA.
At the second stage, the price envelopes of the five were opened, with the site being awarded to the highest bid.
URA said that overall, the concept proposal by the winning bidder was "compelling in its design concept and planning of the public realm".
The winning bid's plans will allow the development to sit comfortably with the existing Holland Village and is laid out according to the present street block grid.
The future development will include a series of ground-floor public spaces divided into three zones: Commons Square, which can hold events such as weekend markets and outdoor performances; Communal Green, which is a courtyard flanked by shops leading to a water court and a terraced water feature; and Pocket Park, which opens into Lorong Mambong in Holland Village.
A series of open walkways will connect these public spaces to the surrounding areas. Through street-paving design, the existing Lorong Liput and Lorong Mambong will be extended into the future development, creating a consistent and distinctive streetscape for the larger Holland Village precinct.
