Consortium comprising Evia, Gamuda and Ho Lee places top bid of $1.01 billion for Yishun site
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The 99-year leasehold plot is located in the up-and-coming Chencharu residential area in Yishun town.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
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- The consortium's top bid for the 99-year leasehold plot in Chencharu, Yishun, works out to about $980 per square foot per plot ratio.
- The Chencharu Close development is expected to yield about 875 private homes, a retail space, a bus interchange and a hawker centre.
- It is the first government land sale site with a private housing component to be offered in Chencharu.
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SINGAPORE – A mixed-use commercial and residential site in Chencharu Close, near the Khatib MRT station, has drawn three bids in a state tender that closed on Sept 11.
A consortium comprising the entities of Evia Real Estate, Malaysian group Gamuda and Ho Lee Group placed the top bid of slightly more than $1.01 billion, which works out to about $980 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).
Frasers Property teamed up with Mitsubishi Estate and Lum Chang Building Contractors to offer $845 million or about $818 psf ppr.
The third bid, from Sim Lian Land and Sim Lian Development, was $692.4 million or $670 psf ppr.
The 99-year leasehold plot is expected to yield some 875 private homes
It will also include up to 135,625 sq ft in gross floor area (GFA) of commercial space that may be used for retail. The commercial component has to be held as a single strata lot; strata subdivision will not be allowed.
Located in the up-and-coming Chencharu residential area in Yishun town, the 317,000 sq ft site can be developed to a maximum GFA of 1.03 million sq ft. Of this, at least 801,986 sq ft – about 78 per cent – will be set aside for residential use.
This is the first government land sale site with a private housing component to be offered in Chencharu, offering prospects of a first-mover advantage, analysts have said.
The Chencharu Close plot is near a string of schools, including Peiying Primary School, Chung Cheng High School, Naval Base Primary and Secondary schools, Orchid Park Secondary School and Yishun Innova Junior College, said PropNex head of research and content Wong Siew Ying.
Also nearby are Khatib Polyclinic, Yishun Stadium and Sport Hall, and Lower Seletar Reservoir Park.
CBRE’s head of research for South-east Asia Tricia Song said the most recent comparable commercial and residential site with similar scale and requirements (including a bus interchange and a hawker centre) would be the one in Tampines Avenue 11.
That site received three bids and was awarded in 2023 for $885 psf ppr to a joint venture involving UOL, Singapore Land and CapitaLand Development. The project’s 1,193-unit residential component, Parktown Residence, achieved a robust take-up of 1,041 units or 87 per cent of the total units, at an average price of $2,360 psf during its launch weekend in February 2025.
Evia Real Estate managing partner Vincent Ong said the trio that placed the top bid for the Chencharu Close tender also developed the OLA executive condominium project in Sengkang.
The consortium’s proposed scheme for the Chencharu site envisages about 860 apartments above a retail mall, bus interchange and hawker centre. The mall will be at the street level and in basement 1, he added.
“Having completed the OLA project last year, we are now hungry for land. Evia, Gamuda and Ho Lee will be thrilled to secure a rare site that can be developed into a residential and retail project integrated with a transport hub in a new housing area.”
Evia and Gamuda developed the Gem Residences private condominium project in Toa Payoh. THE BUSINESS TIMES
