Rio Casa up for en bloc sale

Singapore

RIO Casa, a former HUDC (Housing and Urban Development Company) estate, was on Monday put up for collective sale by its marketing agent, Knight Frank Singapore.

The owners of the river-fronting estate along Hougang Avenue 7 are expecting offers of more than S$450.8 million for the property.

This translates to a land rate of about S$586 per square foot per plot ratio, inclusive of a differential premium of about S$141.5 million for intensification of the site, as well as a lease top-up premium of about S$57.5 million for a fresh 99-year lease.

If successful, each household will receive more than S$1.5 million each. The unit sizes at Rio Casa range from 151 square metres (sq m) to 166 sq m.

Knight Frank expects to see interest from developers for redevelopment opportunities, given the site's more than 200 metres of riverfront and greenery views.

The site is a privatised HUDC estate comprising seven residential blocks of 286 apartment and maisonette units. It has a site area of 36,811.1 sq m. Under the Master Plan 2014, the site is zoned for "residential" with a gross plot ratio of 2.8. This translates to a maximum permissible gross floor area of about 1.1 million square feet.

The immediate vicinity is predominantly residential in nature, comprising landed housing, condominium and public housing estates. There are schools such as CHIJ Our Lady of The Nativity, Holy Innocents' Primary and High School, Montfort Junior and Serangoon Junior College nearby.

The Business Times had earlier reported that property consultants thought the reserve price slightly too bullish as the site can potentially yield more than 1,000 homes - quite intimidating for any developer to sell. This would likely temper their bids, they say.

The tender for Rio Casa will close on May 23, 2017, at 3pm.