The Ardmore Park area is synonymous with sizeable luxury apartments. Four-bedroom units at the landmark Ardmore Park condo where sizes are 2,885 sq ft each have been changing hands at prices from $9.68 million ($3,356 psf) to $9.9 million ($3,432 psf), based on caveats lodged. The freehold, 330-unit Ardmore Park is 18 years old.
New developments such as Wing Tai Holdings’ Le Nouvel Ardmore, with unit sizes from 3,800 sq ft, are priced from $15 million; and the largest penthouse of 13,573 sq ft fetched $51 million ($3,757 psf) in 2015. The penthouse was purchased by Alibaba co-founder and former president of Taobao, Sun Tongyu.
Meanwhile, Facebook co-founder and one of Singapore’s richest men, Eduardo Saverin, paid $60 million for the 10,300 sq ft super penthouse at SC Global’s ultra-luxury, 34-unit Sculptura Ardmore.
At One Draycott, located on Draycott Drive, just off Ardmore Park, Malaysian property developer Selangor Dredging Bhd (SDB) is offering an alternative: 64 units of petite two-bedroom apartments spanning 18 storeys with sizes ranging from 732 to 1,346 sq ft. There are four penthouses on the 18th floor: two of them are sized at 1,238 sq ft each and the other two are 1,346 sq ft each.
Launched in June last year, the units are priced at an average of $3,500 psf. “One Draycott has been designed with young and affluent buyers in mind,” SDB says in a press release.
Based on caveats lodged with URA Realis, three units have been sold since its launch. One of the 1,346 sq ft penthouses was the first to be sold last June, fetching just below $3.5 million ($2,599 psf). A 732 sq ft unit on the ninth floor went for $2.7 million ($3,689 psf) in July, while a 797 sq ft unit on the seventh floor was sold for close to $2.55 million ($3,196 psf) in October.
The development is designed by London architect CarverHaggard in collaboration with British artists Anna and David Hiscock. The latter’s portfolio includes projects such as the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the Egyptian Hall of the British Museum.
Hiscock’s art will feature prominently at One Draycott. At the lobby entrance, residents and visitors will be welcomed by a pangolin sculpture. The scales of the pangolin are handcut by Italian stonecutters.
Each apartment will also be fitted with a handcrafted Lucerne stone wall installation at the main entrance and oak facet installations. Units also come with a private lift lobby and a fully enclosed kitchen. The project is expected to be completed in 2022.
One Draycott is located within walking distance to the Orchard Road shopping belt as well as The American Club and Tanglin Club. It is SDB’s sixth project in Singapore. SDB’s other projects in the prime districts of Singapore include boutique developments Jia on Wilkie Road in the Mount Sophia area in District 9; Hijauan on Cavenagh Road, near the Istana in District 9; and Gilstead Two in District 11.
SDB’s origin was as a tin mining company before it began diversifying its business in the early 1980s. It went into hardware manufacturing and retail manufacturing of tyre rims before consolidating in 2004. The company is now focused on property development, although it is also involved in hotel management.