Chuan Park owners headed for mediation over en bloc sale; Senior Counsel appointed

REPRESENTATIVES of Chuan Park owners are set to meet for their first mediation session on Oct 18, to see if they can resolve disagreements over the condominium’s en bloc sale.

The Business Times (BT) understands that the Collective Sale Committee (CSC) representing the majority owners have appointed Senior Counsel N Sreenivasan of K&L Gates Straits Law to assist them in the mediation.

The 10 minority owners who object to the sale have yet to decide if they will hire a lawyer for the proceedings.

The Strata Titles Board (STB) has 60 days to mediate the dispute between the majority and minority owners, starting from the date of the first mediation session. If the mediation is unsuccessful, the majority owners will have to apply to the High Court for approval of the collective sale.

The 99-year leasehold condo was sold for S$890 million on Jul 5 to buyers related to developers Kingsford Group and MCC Singapore. Owners of the 444 homes stand to receive gross proceeds of about S$1.16 million for a 710 square foot (sq ft) unit, and up to S$2.53 million for a 2,045 sq ft unit. Of the 2 commercial units, the 474 sq ft one will receive S$1.09 million, and the 1,238 sq ft one, S$2 million.

Earlier this month, BT reported that dissenting owners filed their objections to the STB, alleging that Chuan Park’s CSC and marketing agent ERA Realty failed to disclose material facts relating to a higher development baseline for the condominium – which translates into a “deep discount” for the buyers – among other issues.

BT understands that Chuan Park’s buyers have applied to the authorities for a Pre-Application Feasibility Study (PAFS) and Outline Planning Permission (OPP) approvals.

The condo’s sale is conditional upon approval from the Land Transport Authority for the buyers’ PAFS to redevelop the 37,215.6 square metre (sq m) site to accommodate no fewer than 919 dwelling units, based on an average size of 85 sq m per unit.

In addition, and among other criteria, the offer to purchase is also subject to the buyers obtaining OPP for redeveloping Chuan Park with a minimum floor area of 89,824 sq m for development baseline.

If any of the above conditions are not met, the buyers can back out of the deal and be refunded their deposit. So far, an initial deposit of S$5 million has been paid.