Plan for 15 good class bungalows on old Caldecott Broadcast Centre site

Fifteen 99-year good class bungalows (GCBs) are being planned on the sprawling site of the former Caldecott Broadcast Centre in Andrew Road in what is potentially the biggest cluster of leasehold GCBs to be launched in a predominantly freehold GCB area in Caldecott Hill.

Perennial Holdings, in an internal circular dated Nov 17, 2021, seen by The Straits Times, has proposed redeveloping the 752,015 sq ft leasehold site into 15 bungalows in the initial phase, with each bungalow having sizeable plots ranging from 1,400 sq m to 23,300 sq m.

An entity jointly owned by Perennial and its chairman, Mr Kuok Khoon Hong, bought the site in late 2020 for $280.9 million.

"Given the large plot sizes of these 15 bungalows, Perennial highlighted that there is a possibility for these to be subdivided into multiple bungalow plots by future owners," according to the circular from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) to residents.

"Perennial has simulated 26 bungalows that will be built (that is, the initial 15 bungalows plus another 11 bungalows in the future). All the subdivided bungalows will have a minimum plot size of 1,400 sq m," it added.

When asked, Perennial said yesterday: "We are still in the planning phase for the project and will make available an official statement at the appropriate time."

Mr Kuok, who is also the chairman and chief executive of palm oil producer Wilmar International, is said to be taking the largest plot - large enough for 11 GCBs - for his extended family, according to The Business Times and EdgeProp.

"There are already a handful of existing 99-year leasehold GCBs in the Bukit Timah area," Mr Samuel Eyo, managing director of Lighthouse Property Consultants, noted.

"But the former Caldecott Broadcast Centre site is the first big plot that can be subdivided into a number of 99-year GCB plots," he said.

Mediacorp had been granted an outline approval by the URA to redevelop the site, located in the Caldecott Hill good class bungalow area, into 65 two-storey bungalows with a minimum land area of 800 sq m per house.

It had scaled down its proposal from 80 to 90 bungalows on a mix of 400 sq m and 800 sq m plots following its engagement with residents in February 2020.

The site was sold in late 2020 to the entity jointly owned by Perennial and Mr Kuok.

The site, currently zoned for civic and community institution use under the URA's Master Plan 2019, will have to be rezoned to residential use, which will entail payment of a differential premium to the state.

The leasehold site has a balance lease term of 72 years, which means the developer would also need to pay a lease upgrading premium to the Singapore Land Authority to extend to a fresh 99-year tenure.

Some analysts say they cannot comment on the potential pricing of the proposed leasehold GCBs because they do not know the development charges and the costs of topping up the lease.

"Another unknown factor is how much land is being set aside for building roads to the 15 GCBs," said Mr Eyo. "It will likely be a lot less than the amount set aside for building roads to the initial proposed 65 GCBs. The potential land cost per square foot (psf) that will be sold to the future owners is therefore not known at this point."

But Mr Eyo noted that the price differential between a new leasehold landed property and a new freehold landed property is usually between 20 per cent and 30 per cent.

The highest psf price achieved for transactions in the Caldecott Hill GCB area last year was $1,537 psf, or $36 million, for a freehold GCB in nearby Olive Road.

If Perennial sells its 99-year GCB at 30 per cent below $2,100 psf, which is the estimated cost to redevelop the freehold Olive Road site, it may attract buyers, Mr Eyo said.

According to the circular, Perennial has proposed for the 15 bungalows to take vehicle access directly from existing estate roads - Andrew Road, John Road and Olive Road, which are in the Upper Thomson area.