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UOL and Singapore Land submit top bid of $1,616 psf ppr for GLS site at Orchard Boulevard

By Nicholas Lam

/ EdgeProp Singapore |

February 1, 2024 12:35 PM SGT

The 75,686 sq ft, 99-year leasehold site at Orchard Boulevard is zoned for residential development with commercial use on the first storey. (Source: EdgeProp's LandLens)

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The government land sales (GLS) tender for the site at Orchard Boulevard closed on Feb 1 with four bids. The highest bid of $428.28 million, or $1,616 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr), was submitted by a joint venture between UOL Group and Singapore Land Group (SingLand).

The top bid of $1,616 psf ppr is just 2.46% higher than the next highest bid of $1,578 psf ppr submitted by Allgreen Properties.

The 75,686 sq ft, 99-year leasehold site at Orchard Boulevard is zoned for residential development with commercial use on the first storey. The site has a maximum gross floor area of 264,911 sq ft and could be developed into a residential project with 280 units.

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"This is the first residential land parcel released in the Orchard/Tanglin area since 2018," says Liam Wee Sin, group chief executive of UOL Group. "The site has very attractive locational attributes and a direct MRT connection to the Orchard Boulevard station."

Orchard Boulevard MRT Station connects the site to the Thompson-East Coast line. (Credit: Samuel Isaac Chua / EdgeProp Singapore)

According to Liam, UOL and SingLand intend to develop the site into a high-rise luxury condo of 36 storeys, "capitalising on the panoramic views".

"This is the strongest bid for land in the CCR [Core Central Region] and Orchard Road area in the past five years," says Lee Sze Teck, senior director of data analytics at Huttons Asia. "It reflects developers' growing confidence in the CCR, buoyed by the strong results and prices achieved at Watten House."

The 180-unit, freehold Watten House is located on Shelford Road, off Dunearn and Bukit Timah Roads in prime District 11. The project previewed in November 2023, and to date, 120 units (67%) have been sold at an average price of $3,241 psf, based on caveats lodged as of Feb 1.

The future development will be directly linked to the Orchard Boulevard MRT Station on the Thomson-East Coast Line. The prime District 10 site is also within walking distance of Tanglin Mall and other prime malls as well as luxury hotels in the Tanglin Road, Cuscaden Road and Orchard Road enclave.

Cuscaden Reserve is a 192-unit 99-year leasehold residential property which completed in 2023. (Credit: Samuel Isaac Chua / EdgeProp Singapore)

The last GLS site sold was just across the road. At the close of the tender in April 2018, there were nine bids. The highest bid submitted for the 61,597 sq ft site was $410 million ($2,377 psf ppr) by a consortium of SC Global, New World Development and Far East Consortium, which won the site.

The new 99-year leasehold luxury development, the 192-unit Cuscaden Reserve on the GLS site, was completed just last year. To date, 12 units have been sold at an average price of $3,625 psf, based on caveats lodged to date. The highest psf price achieved was for a 1,163 sq ft, three-bedroom unit that fetched $4.452 million or $3,830 psf in June 2022.

UOL and Singapore Land's bid of $1,617 psf ppr for the Orchard Boulevard GLS site is 32% below the $2,377 psf ppr paid for the Cuscaden Reserve site six years ago, notes Leonard Tay, head of research, Knight Frank Singapore. "Today's tender reflects the additional risks that developers have to undertake, as well as the increased additional buyer's stamp duty for foreign buyers in conjunction with the increased costs of development," he says.

Notably, UOL developed the 71-unit, 99-year leasehold Orchard Bel-Air, which sits next to the GLS site at Orchard Boulevard and the MRT Station. In January 2023, Orchard Bel-Air was relaunched for collective sale at a guide price of $587.5 million ($2,620 psf ppr), but no successful buyer emerged.

Check out the latest listings for Watten House, Orchard Bel Air properties

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