5,000 flats planned for new public housing estate in Mount Pleasant
By Timothy Tay
/ EdgeProp Singapore |
The 33-hectare site will provide about 5,000 new BTO flats. HDB says that it plans to launch the first BTO project there within the next five years.
SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - The Housing and Development Board (HDB) announced conceptual development plans for a new public housing estate in the Mount Pleasant area. HDB says that the 33-hectare estate will provide about 5,000 new homes, and it intends to launch the first Build-To-Order project there within the next five years.
According to HDB, the area earmarked for the new public housing estate had already been set aside for residential development since the 1998 Master Plan. (Find HDB flats for rent or sale with our Singapore HDB directory)
The development area largely comprises of a brownfield site that is occupied by the former Police Academy site. The entire site is bounded by Thomson Road and the Pan Island Expressway.
According to Christine Sun, senior vice president of research & analytics at OrangeTee & Tie, the plot earmarked for redevelopment is unique in Singapore as it fuses the convenience of city fringe living with greenery, culture, and heritage.
However, she expects relatively high launch prices for BTO flats in this new estate. “Prices may be close to recent BTO launch price at Toa Payoh or Bidadari. For instance, for this year’s February launch at Bidadari, prices of five-room flats started from S$611,000 while four-room flats started from around S$460,000.”
Mount Pleasant MRT station delayed
MRT accessibility to serve the new estate has already been planned and the area will eventually be served by the Mount Pleasant MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line. However, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has announced that this station will not be operational until the new homes are ready.
(Picture: URA)
Mount Pleasant MRT station is part of the third stage of the Thomson-East Coast Line, and the stations along this stage are set to open next year.
“It is not often that new BTO projects are built near or next to an MRT station. Therefore, the new BTO flats in this area may be quite well received by buyers. The site is also near Toa Payoh which is a mature estate with plenty of amenities and eateries,” says Sun.
Part of Singapore Polo Club acquired
The government has also acquired “a small part of the land” at the Singapore Polo Club, which is beside the development site.
The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) has already gazetted the acquisition of the affected piece of land from the Singapore Polo Club. The clubhouse, field, and main horse stables will not be affected.
Conservation plans
Since much of the development site is occupied by the Old Police Academy, a large-scale heritage study was conducted between August 2018 to September 2019 to assess the architectural design features and spaces of the heritage buildings.
HDB says this was an additional layer of external assessment, and it also considered feedback from heritage community and stakeholder groups.
Six buildings were identified for conservation. (Picture: URA)
As a result of the findings, four buildings within the Old Police Academy will be conserved. They will be adapted for new contemporary uses while retaining the physical building structure. A portion of the parade square will be retained as an open space.
Two buildings that lie outside the planned development area have also been identified for their heritage value and URA plans to propose conserving them.
HDB says that for the other buildings and spaces that cannot be retained in their entirety it is exploring ways to incorporate their architectural elements into the new developments or incorporating them as street furniture or landscape markers.
Public feedback invited
An environmental impact study was also commissioned by HDB in January 2019 to study and understand the impact of the redevelopment on the local ecology of the area and better manage potential impacts.
This impact study and the heritage study are available on HDBs website. HDB also invites members of the public to give feedback on the development plans for the new Mount Pleasant estate. This will be open between Nov 23 to Dec 21 this year.
Check out the latest listings near Mount Pleasant, Mount Pleasant MRT station
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