There was a caveat lodged for a unit at Nassim
Park Residences that cost nearly $13.3 million in July and two in August
(at about $9.6 million and $9.8 million), based on URA Realis caveats data
as at Oct 12.
However, Business Times understands that
since then, two more units were sold in the development in September,
followed by a further two so far this month.
The four units were sold at prices
ranging from $9.6 million to $14 million, or from about $2,850 per square
foot to $3,480 psf.
Business Times understands there have
been close to a dozen transactions at Nassim Park Residences since mid-year.
However, buyers of some units have yet to lodge caveats.
- 2009 October 15 BUSINESS
TIMES
---
In the luxury market, the 100-unit Nassim
Park Residences is the star performer, logging in sales of over 50 units
since its soft launch at end-May.
As these are large apartments, prices
range from about $10 million to a whopping $19.5 million, sources said.
The prime Nassim Road project - being
developed by UOL Group, Kheng Leong and Orix Corp - has already hit a high
of $3,800 psf - far better than its low of $2,318 psf.
One buyer is Mr Wee Ee Cheong, son of UOL
chairman Wee Cho Yaw, who bought a penthouse for $18.33 million.
Just over 30 per cent of the buyers are
foreigners. The project has already been launched in Jakarta and Hong Kong,
said UOL. - 2008 June
19 STRAITS
TIMES
Wee family goes condo-shopping
Its members pick up three units in Nassim Park Residences for $40m
Members of the Wee family have bought
three units at Nassim Park Residences near Botanic Gardens for a total of
nearly $40 million, a filing by UOL Group to Singapore Exchange (SGX) on
Wednesday shows.
Wee Ee Cheong, CEO of United Overseas
Bank and son of UOL chairman and controlling shareholder Wee Cho Yaw, picked
up a penthouse for $18.33 million or $2,670 per square foot (psf).
Two of his siblings bought a sky unit
each in the five-storey freehold condo at about $10.6 million each. Wee Ee
Chao, who sits on the UOL board, bought a unit with his wife Jennifer for
$3,308 psf, while his sister Wei Chi snapped up a unit for herself for
$3,293 psf.
The SGX filing also showed that UOL
director Alan Choe's son Jonathan, through his company Montgomery Hills,
bought a ground-floor unit, that comes with its own pool, for nearly $11.5
million or $2,513 psf.
Buyers of the four units received a
special 2 per cent discount. More than 40 units have been sold in the
development, which has a total 100 units, since its preview began the week
of Vesak Day.
The average price achieved is said to be
somewhere in the $3,000-$3,200 psf band, although analysts expect the
developer to raise prices slightly when the project is officially launched
next week. The project is being marketed by CB Richard Ellis and Savills.
The units in the development are priced
at $10 million and above, with each having at least four bedrooms.
Nassim Park Residences has drawn a good
mix of local and foreign buyers, and market watchers attribute its
encouraging take-up to its 'reasonable pricing'.
'Had this project been launched a year
ago, it could have been priced in the mid to high-$3,000 psf range, on
average,' a market watcher said.
UOL is developing Nassim Park Residences
jointly with Kheng Leong group (a privately owned vehicle of the Wee family)
and Japan's Orix Corporation, on the former Nassim Park condo site that UOL
bought in August 2006 for $380 million.
Its land cost worked out to about $1,131
psf of potential gross floor area inclusive of an estimated development
charge of $8 million at the time. The breakeven cost then for a new
development on the site was estimated at $1,600-1,700 psf.
UOL has also sold over 40 units of its
88-unit Breeze by the East condo along Upper East Coast Road near The
Bayshore since it began selling the project around mid-April.
The five-storey freehold project was
initially priced at about $950 psf on average, but this has since been
raised to $980 psf, BT understands.
Even so, the pricing is considered
attractive compared with the $1,600-$1,700 psf average price that Tiong Aik
picked for its 20-storey freehold Parc Seabreeze in the Marine Parade/Joo
Chiat area in early May.
Tiong Aik has since withdrawn the project
from the market. - 2008 June
7 SINGAPORE
BUSINESS TIMES
Nassim Woods
Unit
Types:
Three and four bedroom condominiums
Facilities:
Swimming pool, jacuzzi, gymnasium,
steamroom, tennis court
Big Nassim Rd bungalow plot put up for sale
The 80,000 sq ft freehold GCB site may fetch $38m, say observers
A sprawling good class bungalow (GCB) site of more than 80,000 square
feet on Nassim Road has been put up for sale after failing to find buyers as
part of a much larger plot.
Owner Sindo Nassim Development, which is linked to an Indonesian timber
merchant, has carved out the freehold site of 81,213 sq ft and put it up for
tender. The site could command a price of around $38 million, market
watchers said. Colliers International was the marketing agent.
The site, which is part of No 56 Nassim Road, can house up to five good
class bungalows. No 56 Nassim Road, with 140,000 sq ft of land, and No 54,
with some 50,000 sq ft, were put up for sale last year, according to an
earlier media report.
The asking price then was reportedly over $600 psf - close to the late
2000 peak achieved for GCB sites. In 2003, motor tycoon Peter Kwee sold a
portion of a freehold Nassim Road parcel he bought in 2001 for $25.5 million
- a record $647 psf. The buyer of the 39,383 sq ft site was Oei Siu Hoa, a
sister of businessman Oei Hong Leong.
Market watchers, however, expect the Sindo site to trade closer to recent
GCB sales in the area. They reckon it will be easier to sell a smaller site
now and with moderated price expectations.
Sales of GCB land in the vicinity of Cluny Hill and Nassim hovered
between $450 psf and $482 psf in 2004. Taking an average of $465 psf, the
site at No 56 would fetch $37.8 million.
At Knight Frank's auction last Thursday, a two-storey GCB site at 20B
Nassim Road had an opening price of $10.5 million or $434 psf. The 24,183 sq
ft freehold plot was subsequently withdrawn at $9.1 million or $376 psf.
'This is a huge GCB site in the very prime Nassim area and it's hard to
come by such sites,' said Colliers' director Ho Eng Joo.
'The market has recovered and there have been a number of parties asking
the owners if they would sell the site. Interested parties are likely
developers or very rich tycoons who want a very big bungalow or stay with
friends or family.'
The site, which is bounded by Nassim, Cluny and Dalvey roads, is one of
the most coveted residential areas in Singapore. The Botanic Gardens and
Singapore Management University are also nearby.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority has safeguarded 39 areas, including
Nassim Road, Chatsworth Park, Queen Astrid Park, Chestnut Avenue, Eng Neo
Avenue and Caldecott Hill Estate.
GCBs must also satisfy a minimum plot size of 1,400 sq m or 15,069 sq ft
stipulated by planning authorities.
The tender for the site closes on Jan 28. -
2005 January 18 SINGAPORE
BUSINESS TIMES by
Andrea Tan
Nassim Rd site for record $647
psf
Oei Hong Leong's sister pays $25.5m for 39,300 sq ft plot
Despite the lacklustre property market, the price
of coveted Good Class Bungalow land on the island has hit a new high.
Peter Kwee
has sold a portion of a
freehold Nassim Road parcel he bought in 2001, and the price of the latest
deal is $25.5 million, or a record $647 psf of land area, say sources. This
surpasses the previous high of $600 psf set in late 2000.
The buyer of the 39,383 sq ft site is understood
to be Oei Siu Hoa, a member of the Widjaja family that controls Indonesia's
Sinar Mas group. She is also wealthy businessman Oei Hong Leong's sister.
Nassim Road is the number one Good Class Bungalow,
or GCB, area on the island and property market watchers suggested the high
per square foot price fetched was due to the 'rarity value' of the site.
'It's hard to find a GCB site of this size and
configuration - a big, squarish plot - on Nassim Road available for sale,'
noted a source.
The previous record for GCB land was set in late
2000 when Sparks disco shareholder David Eng clinched the British
government's Ladyvale site for $600 psf of land. The 32,160 sq ft site, at
30 Nassim Road, fetched $19.3 million.
Mr. Kwee,
who controls Group Exklusiv, is expected to reap a profit of $7.3 million,
before factoring in transaction and holding costs, according to property
analysts' estimates.
He and popiah king Sam Goi Seng Hui bought the
Nassim Road plot from the British government in April 2001 for $50.4
million.
The sprawling Eden Hall gardens site, with a net
land area of 109,059 sq ft, was formerly part of the British High
Commissioner's residence.
The two men later split the parcel, with Mr Kwee
taking the larger slice of about 63,300 sq ft. From this, he carved out the
39,383 sq ft plot which he sold recently to Ms Oei. This leaves Mr Kwee with
nearly 24,000 sq ft at Nassim Road. As for the plot bought by Ms Oei,
sources say some groundwork has been completed for a bungalow. Her site is
actually large enough to hold two GCBs.
GCBs are the most prestigious type of landed
housing on the island, with planning constraints imposed by the Urban
Redevelopment Authority.
A bungalow in such an area must have a plot size
of at least 1,400 sq m (15,070 sq ft) and the building height is restricted
to two storeys above ground. It can have a basement. By imposing stringent
rules, the exclusivity and low-rise character of such neighbourhoods are
preserved.
Property analysts suggested Ms Oei's purchase of
the site at a record price should augur well for the outcome of a current
tender for Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation's 276,112 sq ft GCB
parcel at Bishopsgate. The freehold parcel is large enough to be subdivided
into 16 GCB plots and has an official asking price of $82.5 million, or $299
per sq ft of land area.
The price works out to a higher $337 psf of net
land area of 244,772 sq ft after providing for roads and an electrical
substation - assuming a buyer sub-divides the land into 16 plots. -
2003 September 15 Kalpana Rashiwala Singapore
Business Times
16 Nassim Hill, Singapore 258467
Yet another landmark hotel is set to make way for a condominium development.
The ANA Hotel at Nassim Hill will close its doors on March 31 after owner
CapitaLand said it plans to redevelop the site into an 'upmarket
condominium'.
The 457-room hotel employs some 200 workers. An
ANA Hotel spokeswoman said 36 will be laid off on Feb 16, with the remaining
to go after the hotel closes at the end of March.
The hotel sits on a freehold 122,566 square foot
site, which can be redeveloped to 1.4 times the land area. The site has been
re-zoned for residential use.
CapitaLand's book value of the site is $129.7 million or $756
psf per plot ratio.
The hotel was officially opened in 1979 as Century
Park Sheraton Singapore and renamed ANA Hotel in September 1990. The hotel
and its site was acquired by the then DBS Land in 1999.
DBS Land and Pidemco Land merged to form
CapitaLand in 2000.
Other hotels that have been redeveloped into
condominiums include Marco Polo, Imperial, Ladyhill, Equatorial and Cockpit.
Last year, UOB-controlled Hotel Negara put up the 21-storey Meritus Negara
hotel for sale. The 39,328 sq ft site could also be redeveloped as a condo.
- 2004 February 12 Singapore
Business Times
