URA launches tender for Irwell Bank Road residential site

THE Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has launched a residential site at Irwell Bank Road for sale by public tender, it said on Thursday.

The site spans an area of 12,789 square metres (sq m) with a gross floor area of 35,809 sq m. 

The 99-year leasehold site can yield about 445 residential units, with a maximum building height of 36 storeys. 

It is located within a well-established residential area surrounded by existing condominum developments such as The Cosmopolitan and OUE Twin Peak.

It is near River Valley Primary School, ISS International School and Dimensions International College, and is a few minutes' walk from the Orchard Road shopping and entertainment belt and Great World City.

The site is also within walking distance of the future Great World City MRT Station.

According to the SRX real estate portal, nearby freehold condo The Cosmopolitan's last transacted sale in June was at a price of S$2,341 per square foot (psf).

The Irwell Bank Road site was launched under the confirmed list of the government land sales (GLS) programme for the second half of 2019.

Tender for the site closes at 12 noon on Jan 9, 2020, the same deadline for a Jalan Bunga Rampai residential GLS site launched for sale in August.

Tricia Song, head of research for Singapore, Colliers International, said the top bid for the Irwell Bank Road site could be in the S$650 million to S$680 million range.

That works out to S$1,700-1770 psf per plot ratio (ppr), similar to the S$1,732.55 psf ppr for the Jiak Kim Street site (Riviere), which was awarded to Frasers Centrepoint in December 2017.

She said that the Irwell Bank Road site is the most appealing out of the GLS slate for the second half of 2019, and will "attract developers who are keen to add a rare, sizeable residential site in the prime District 9 to their development pipeline".

"However, given the relatively large quantum required, we expect the tender for the site to be cautious, attracting four to six bids, in line with the average five bids for residential sites costing over S$300 million since the cooling measures were implemented in July 2018," she added.

She said that developers will likely take a cue from the performance of the 455-unit Riviere, which is about 600 metres away. It has sold 45 units at a median price of S$2,850 psf since its May 2019 launch.

Martin Modern, another GLS site in District 9, has sold 353 units or 78 per cent of its total 450 units since its launch in July 2017.

Prices at Martin Modern have risen steadily from S$2,152 psf at launch to over S$2,600 psf currently, said Ms Song.