Nine bids each for site in Lentor, EC plot in Tampines St 62

TWO 99-year leasehold plots offered as part of the Government Land Sales Programme have each fetched nine bids at state tenders that closed on Thursday.

They are:

* A plot for a private housing development with commercial space on the first storey, located next to the upcoming Lentor MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line; and

* A site for an executive condominium (EC) housing along Tampines Street 62. ECs are a public-private housing hybrid.

GuocoLand, part of Malaysian tycoon Quek Leng Chan's Hong Leong Group of Malaysia, placed the top bid for the Lentor Central plot. Its bid came in at S$784.1million, or about S$1,204 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).

The second highest bid was S$750 million, or S$1,152 psf ppr, from a tie-up comprising Intrepid Investments, Hong Realty and TID Residential. The trio are part of the Hong Leong Group Singapore, helmed by Mr Quek's Singaporean cousin Kwek Leng Beng.

The third highest bid was from a tie-up between City Developments and Hongkong Land unit MCL Land. It came in at S$1,131 psf ppr. City Developments is the SGX-listed property and hotel arm of Hong Leong Group Singapore.

The Lentor Central plot is located within the new Lentor Hills Estate, envisioned as a sustainable, pedestrian-friendly neighbourhood amid lush greenery. It is near established schools such as Presbyterian High School, Anderson Primary School, and CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School.

Besides the residential component, the developer of the site is required to provide an early-childhood development centre with minimum gross floor area (GFA) of 1,000 square metres (10,764 square feet) in the project. Alternatively, the successful tenderer may provide two early-childhood development centres, each with a minimum 500 sq m (5,382 sq ft) GFA within the development.

Up to 8,000 sq m (or about 86,111 sq ft) GFA may be developed for commercial use on the first storey of the proposed development, including a minimum 1,000 sq m for a supermarket.

For the EC plot in Tampines Street 62, the top bid of S$422 million or nearly S$659 psf ppr came from a consortium comprising a Qingjian Realty and Octava Pte Ltd joint venture and Santarli Realty. Octava is owned by three Singapore citizens.

The top bid was 1.4 per cent higher than the second highest offer, from Intrepid Investments and TID Residential, of S$416.28 million or S$650 psf ppr.

A decision on the award of the tenders will be announced at a later date.