Hong Leong-led group pips two others to place top bid for first Tengah private housing site
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Located at the junction of Dairy Farm Walk and Petir Road, the land parcel has a maximum gross floor area of 45,951 sq m.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
Ry-Anne Lim
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SINGAPORE - Two suburban residential sites saw modest interest and fairly conservative bids when government tenders closed on Jan 14.
The first private housing site to be offered in upcoming new estate Tengah attracted three bids, topped by a Hong Leong-led group at $675 million or $821 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr).
A Dairy Farm Walk parcel that can accommodate 540 units, meanwhile, secured two bids, with the top bid of $504.5 million ($1,020 psf ppr) from a consortium of developers led by Santarli Construction.
Bids for the Tengah Garden Avenue plot were close, with the highest bid just $6 psf or 0.7 per cent over the next bid of $670.1 million or $815 psf ppr, from Kingsford Group. Sim Lian Group came third with $668 million or $813 psf ppr.
Bidding came in at the lower end of analysts’ expectations of $800 to $980 psf ppr for the outside central region (OCR) project.
Consultants predicted moderate demand for the 25,458.4 sq m site, and had anticipated two to four bids for the first private residential site in the area, where sites have already been sold for executive condominiums.
The latest was a Plantation Close land parcel, which garnered four bids in February 2024. It was awarded to a Hoi Hup Realty-Sunway Developments joint venture for $423.4 million or $701 psf ppr.
The project, Novo Place, was launched for sale in November 2024. It has since sold 89 per cent, or 447 units, of its 504 units at a median price of $1,652 psf.
With a land cost of $821 psf ppr, observers expect the Tengah Garden Avenue condo to be priced close to $2,000 psf. The plot will house around 860 units, with commercial use on the first storey. It has a maximum gross floor area of 76,376 sq m, of which at least 2,000 sq m will be for commercial use, such as shops, restaurants, or sports and recreation facilities.
Another tender that closed on Jan 14, for a site at Dairy Farm Walk, attracted two bids from developers, with a top bid of $504.5 million or $1,020 psf ppr from a consortium comprising Santarli Construction, Apex Asia Group, Soon Li Heng Civil Engineering and Kay Lim Realty.
In second place was Sim Lian Group, with a bid of $410 million or $829 psf ppr.
The offers came in generally within expectations polled by The Business Times before the tender closing. Consultants had expected to see up to three bids, with land rates ranging from $800 psf ppr to $950 psf ppr.
Located at the junction of Dairy Farm Walk and Petir Road, the land parcel stretches 21,881.8 sq m with a maximum gross floor area of 45,951 sq m. It is the fourth government land sale site released for sale in the area.
The site will feature a low-rise zone of four to six storeys, and a medium-rise zone comprising residential blocks of 75 to 85m. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) had said in its tender brief that the building heights within the development are set to “step down towards the landed housing to the north”, so there is a “more relatable scale to the surrounding context”.
The project must be designed sensitively given its proximity to surrounding nature areas, such as Dairy Farm Nature Park, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and Chestnut Close Park, URA added.
Most recently in March 2022, a 168,536 sq ft site along Dairy Farm Walk – where the 386-unit The Botany at Dairy Farm condominium now stands – drew seven bids. It was awarded to Sim Lian Group for $347 million or $980 psf ppr.
Based on caveats data, the median price of new private homes in the Dairy Farm area was $2,006 psf in the past three months. The latest transaction in late December was for a 1,044 sq ft unit at The Botany at Dairy Farm for $2.2 million or $2,111 psf. THE BUSINESS TIMES
