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"As
many as 50 apartments in the 341-unit project by City Developments could already be up for resale."
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ESSENTIALS:
Two distinctive towers, one gold and the other
silver, totalling 341 units in 50 storeys and 42 storeys
respectively. |
| One Shenton Way |
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One Shenton set to go for up to
$2,500 psf
Agents ask
buyers for blank cheques to get choice units
2007 January 5 : Apartments
in City Developments' newest condominium, One Shenton, are likely to go for
between $1,500-$2,500 per square foot (psf) during its expected soft launch
today, according to agents marketing the project.
Agents from Knight Frank and ERA are also asking interested parties for
blank cheques and authorisation letters to help buyers secure choice units
in the much-anticipated 99-year leasehold development on Shenton Way, in the
heart of the financial district.
The cheques are to be made out to a United Overseas Bank account, which
the agents say is under CityDev's name.
Apartment prices in the 341-unit development are expected to be in the
$1,500-$2,500 psf range, at least for starters. Prices could go up as the
days pass as with the nearby Marina Bay Residences (MBR), where prices were
raised each subsequent day during the soft launch, one agent says.
While it is widely expected that CityDev will start selling the project
today, some agents believe that the soft launch could start tomorrow
instead, with today reserved for investors looking to pick up whole floors.
It is also not clear if CityDev will be releasing all units in the
project over this coming weekend, although it might do so if buyer interest
is strong, an agent from ERA says.
For now, agents are collecting cheques and authorisation letters so that
they can stand in line - with some promising to do so overnight if need be -
in lieu of potential buyers. Once apartments are offered to them, the agents
will then call their clients, who can then make a decision on whether to go
ahead with the purchase, allowing the agents to seal the deal on the spot.
One Shenton consists of two towers - one 50-storey and the other 42.
There will be a mix of studio, and two, three and four-bedroom apartments,
as well as 'sky suites' and 'sky villas'. Sizes range from 520 to 9,600
square feet. The car park is on the first seven storeys; residential units
begin from the eight floor.
CityDev is expected to benefit from high prices seen in the recent launch
of MBR, where a unit fetched a record $3,400 psf. However, units at One
Shenton are expected to be priced below those at MBR, agents say.
- by Uma Shankari SINGAPORE
BUSINESS TIMES January 5, 2007
Entire floors of the two towers bought for $1,500 to
over $2,000 psf
City Developments Ltd (CDL) executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng remains
bullish about the high-end property market and expects prices to rise 10-20
per cent this year.
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| Big
draw: Guests
waiting for the lift after arriving to see the One Shenton showflat on
Shenton Way yesterday and (next) a model of One Shenton, which will
have a 50-storey tower and a 43-storey tower joined by a podium block
with 11 retail units |
Mr Kwek was speaking at the soft launch
of CDL's latest residential development - One Shenton - where at least 70
per cent of the 341 apartments were snapped up at a preview last night,
mainly by investors who purchased entire floors, sources said.
Units were sold for '$1,500 to over
$2,000 psf'. The rest will no doubt move fast as long queues were seen
outside the development's showflat even late into the night.
Mr Kwek also said that he does not
believe the projected slowdown in the economy this year will clip property
prices.
Believing market sentiment will 'filter
through' to all segments, Mr Kwek also said that he expects mass-market
prices to increase 6-10 per cent in 2007.
It is this confidence that perhaps
prompted him to turn down offers from institutional investors to buy One
Shenton en bloc.
Two institutional investors whom he
described only as 'Western' approached CDL, with the highest offer close to
$1,700 per square foot, he said. This would have made the sale price in
excess of $714 million, based on the development's 420,000 sq ft of sellable
floor area.
Instead, Mr Kwek said that he would
rather sell the two-tower development to individuals for between '$1,500 to
over $2,000 psf' because 'they have been queuing up and knocking on our
doors . . it wouldn't be nice'.
He revealed that up to 30 per cent of
CDL's customers are repeat buyers and it would also be a matter of
'goodwill'. CDL also expects between 60 and 70 per cent of the buyers to be
Singaporean.
The 99-year leasehold development will
have 142 one-bedroom units, with or without study. There will be 113
two-bedroom units, 54 three-bedroom units, 21 four-bedroom units and 11 Sky
Suites and Sky Villas.
The development will consist of a
50-storey tower and a 43-storey tower joined by a podium block with 11
retail units. CDL has no plans to sell the retail units.
One Shenton is being launched in a price
slightly lower than that of Marina Bay Residences, which were launched last
month at $1,550-$2,150 psf, with the highest priced unit going for a record
$3,400 psf.
One Shenton cannot command the same views
as Marina Bay Residences so records may not be broken this time. Still, Mr
Kwek revealed that he has ambitious plans to buy the whole urban block that
One Shenton sits on, which includes Shenton House and UIC Building.
He is interested in the Government Land
Sales white site to be launched in the first half of this year next to One
Shenton. - by Arthur Sim
SINGAPORE
BUSINESS TIMES January 6, 2007
Unloading of One Shenton units begins
Owners are now asking for some $500-600 psf more than what
they paid
2007 January 9: Speculators
are looking to make a quick buck from reselling units at the red-hot One
Shenton - just days after the project was launched.
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For a quick buck: Investors and agents have taken out ads
pitching 'choice units' and 'good investments' |
Both investors and agents have taken out advertisements in the newspapers
over the past two days, pitching 'choice units' and 'good investments' to
potential buyers.
BT understands that as many as 50 apartments in the 341-unit project by
City Developments could already be up for resale.
For example, one investor who picked up an entire floor of more than 10
units is now looking for buyers, and is willing to sell the entire floor or
individual units.
Interested parties who missed the boat at One Shenton's launch last
Friday can still have their pick of studio, as well as one, two, three and
four-bedroom apartments - but for higher prices.
While units in the 99-year leasehold
condominium were mostly sold for $1,500 to $2,200 per square foot (psf)
during the weekend launch, owners are now asking for between $2,000 and
$2,800 psf.
One agent BT spoke to said smaller units
have slightly higher prices (in psf terms) than larger ones.
Owners will no doubt feel the higher
resale prices are justifiable in light of the project's popularity. When
CityDev launched the project, 95 per cent of apartments were snapped up
within 30 hours, the developer revealed later.
And as of last night, just three of the
330 non-penthouse units were left.
Penthouses, which were not immediately
launched with the rest of the apartments, have been sold since.
BT understands that at least one
penthouse, out of a total of 11, has been sold for $2,500 psf.
CityDev declined to say how many
penthouses have been released for sale so far, but said penthouses are
released 'based on application'.
Going into the new year, resale activity
is likely to continue to be strong at One Shenton if the nearby Marina Bay
Residences (MBR) - where units were sold out in three days last month - is
taken as an indicator.
A scan of newspaper advertisements over
the past two days showed that many MBR unit-owners are still putting their
apartments on the market, one month after the launch. Previous media reports
have said owners are looking for as much as $3,100 psf for their units in
MBR. - by Uma Shankari
SINGAPORE
BUSINESS TIMES January 9, 2007
Over 30 One Shenton options lapse
Feb 10, 2007 - Options
for slightly more than 30 apartments at City Developments' One Shenton
project were not exercised when the deadline to do so passed yesterday, BT
understands.
CityDev and its marketing agents for the
project are expected to offer the units to those on a waiting list for the
99-year leasehold project who were unable to secure apartments during the
preview in early January. It remains to be seen what prices CityDev achieves for
the returned units.
At the time of the preview, CityDev said it
achieved prices ranging from $1,500 psf to $2,200 psf. It began its preview on
the afternoon of Friday, Jan 5. On the next day, the listed property group
announced that more than 95 per cent of the 341 units at the development had
been sold.
Market watchers said those who failed to
exercise their options by yesterday's deadline would lose a quarter of their 5
per cent deposit, amounting to 1.25 per
cent of the price of the unit they had booked - or $12,500 for every $1 million
of purchase price.
But this may be a smaller price to pay than
what faces speculators who have failed to sell their units in the sub-sale
market for a profit. The latter face having to sink in more money soon - stamp
duty within 14 days and the next payment to the developer of 15 per cent within
eight weeks of the date they were issued options.
Industry sources say that at Marina Bay
Residences, options for eight units were not exercised by the deadline around
mid-January. The 428-unit project was sold out during its preview in December,
achieving an average price of $1,950 psf. - SINGAPORE
BUSINESS TIMES Feb 2007
BACKGROUND
City Developments Limited is converting a former commercial
building in the Central Business District, One Shenton Way,
to a condominium and is expected to release units for sale this year. Carlos
Ott, renowned for his designs of Opera de la Bastille in Paris, the Hangzhou
Grand Theatre and the National Bank of Dubai, has been engaged as the
architect for the project.
The 99-year leasehold project, to be released this year, will be
developed on the site now occupied by the group’s No 1 Shenton Way office
block.
Located close to other new developments at Marina Bay such as One
Raffles Quay, the Business and Financial Centre, and The Sail @ Marina Bay,
the apartment project will have 360 units in two towers, the taller of them
proposed at 50 storeys. The units will range from one-bedders to
four-bedroom apartments, as well as penthouses with private swimming pools
and roof decks.
A podium running the length of the development site in Shenton Way
will have carparking from the second level onwards. Common facilities for
the apartments, like a swimming pool and barbecue pits, will be on the
podium’s roof deck. CityDev’s Mr Chia said the design for the
yet-to-be-named apartment towers will ‘dramatically redefine the city
skyline, which will be another feather in the cap as Singapore aims to
become a key architectural centre of the world’.
The two towers will be linked at three points. The upper-most link,
or bridge, is expected to house penthouses, while the two lower links will
house sky terraces and gardens.
Although a residential project, the ground floor of the development
will be commercial, featuring food & beverage and retail shops to create
vibrancy and life at the street level.
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