SINGAPORE – The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) launched the sale of a plum site in Marina View on Monday morning (June 28), after an unnamed developer undertook to bid at least $1.508 billion for it.
The white site, which is intended for a mixed-use development with residential, hotel, commercial and/or serviced apartments, comes under the reserve list of the first-half 2021 Government Land Sales programme.
The public tender for the land parcel will close at 12pm on Sept 21.
Any tender below the minimum bid price of $1.508 billion – which works out to $1,379 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) – will not be accepted.
The site can yield 905 private residential units, 2,000 sq m gross floor area (GFA) of commercial space and 540 hotel rooms.
Located in the Central Business District, near the upcoming Shenton Way MRT station, the Marina View site should benefit from the future Greater Southern Waterfront development, which extends from Pasir Panjang to Marina East.
An entity linked to IOI Properties Group was reportedly the party that triggered the release for sale of the site, according to The Business Times.
When contacted on Monday, a spokesman for the group declined comment.
The Malaysia-listed group is developing another white site in Central Boulevard, which it acquired for about $2.57 billion in November 2016 after triggering its release for sale with a minimum bid of $1.536 billion. That worked out to a land rate of $1,689 psf ppr.
IOI Properties told The Straits Times on Monday that its IOI Central Boulevard Towers is “progressing and is slated to be completed by the third quarter of 2023”.
Located near Lau Pa Sat and four MRT stations – Downtown, Marina Bay, Raffles Place and Shenton Way – the predominantly office project will offer 1.25 million sq ft of Grade A office space in two towers. Typical office floor plates will range from 21,700 sq ft to 25,400 sq ft.
The project, which includes an urban sky park and food and beverage outlets, will also have 30,000 sq ft of retail space.
Mr Wong Xian Yang, Cushman & Wakefield’s head of research, Singapore, noted that the Marina View white site is different as it is envisaged for a residential and hotel development, with a small retail component.
“Therefore, the main play here is on the growth of the private residential market in the CBD and the recovery of the hotel market… With more family offices setting up shop in Singapore, demand for prime residential units within the CBD is expected to rise,” he said.
The 99-year Marina View parcel comprises two plots – a 7,817.6 sq m land parcel and an 18 sq m underground space.
In all, the site has a maximum GFA of 101,629 sq m.
The parcel had previously been available for sale through the reserve list since October 2011, but was removed in 2015 for a “review of its development plans”, URA said in June 2015.
In 2018, the site was again made available for sale after the review was completed, and it has been on the reserve list since that year.