Three residential developments in Orchard area sold for S$190.5m

THREE prime residential buildings near Orchard Road have been sold to three different developers for a combined price of S$190.5 million.

The tenders for the freehold properties located at 3 Cuscaden Walk, 120 Grange Road and 8 Hullet Road were launched simultaneously in October with a total guide price of S$185 million. Tenders closed on Nov 2.

The Cuscaden Walk property, sold for S$103.8 million to SL Capital (2) Pte Ltd, a consortium led by Sustained Land Pte Ltd, has a land area of 21,560 square feet and is zoned "residential" with a gross plot ratio (GPR) of 2.8 under the 2014 Master Plan.

The sale price reflects a land rate of about S$1,826 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) on the potential gross floor area, including an estimated development charge of S$6.43 million payable upon redevelopment.

A subsidiary of Roxy-Pacific Holdings bought the Grange Road development for S$48.5 million. It comprises an 11-storey block of 18 flats with a total strata area of 26,350 square feet, sited on a land area of 15,780 square feet.

Also zoned "residential", it has a GPR of 2.1 under the 2014 Master Plan and works out to S$1,841 psf on the existing strata area.

The Hullet Road property, the smallest among the three with a land area of 10,733 square feet, went to Hullet Development Pte Ltd, a consortium led by Patrick Kho of Lian Huat Group, for S$38.2 million, which works out to S$2,073 psf.

Built in the early 2000s, it comprises a 10-storey block of 18 apartments with a total strata area of 18,428 square feet.

Jeremy Lake, executive director of investment properties at CBRE Singapore, said Hullet Development intends to build an exclusive high-end development given the location of the property, which is in the heart of Orchard Road.

"Sentiment towards the prime residential market has improved since the middle of the year and some developers have been asking if there are sites for sale. These three sites are very well located which combined with their palatable deal sizes resulted in a very competitive bidding process," he said.

Karamjit Singh, international director and head of residential at JLL, said the properties attracted interest from a wide variety of parties including long-term investors and those looking to build serviced apartments and "reflect an underlying confidence in the stability of the high-end residential market which, prior to this year, saw a steady decline in values over the preceding four years".

In addition, the vendor has also engaged property consultancy JLL to market for sale two apartments that it owns at The Claymore by private treaty. The sizes of the apartments are 2,680 square feet and 3,348 square feet respectively.

The tender exercise was managed jointly by JLL and CBRE on behalf of the vendors, who were seeking offers for the three buildings individually or as one lot.