Hotel Site At Upper Pickering St Up For Tender

Sources : The Business Times, July 19, 2007

Plot gets moved to Confirmed List after just 6 months on the GLS Reserve List

AFTER just six months on the Government Land Sales (GLS) Reserve List, a prime hotel site at Upper Pickering Street has been moved to the Confirmed List.

Sites on the GLS Reserve List require a committed minimum bid before they are offered for sale by public tender. Sites on the Confirmed List do not.

URA said: 'The hotel site at Upper Pickering Street was transferred from the Reserve List to the Confirmed List as the early development of this site will cater to the increasing demand for hotel rooms and help add vibrancy to the Hong Lim Park area.'

A spokesman for URA said the authority had received market interest for the site. 'However, URA's policy is not to reveal the details on applications to trigger sites for tender,' the spokesman said.

Being a well located site, it is surprising that it had not received a committed bid earlier, especially as the hotels sector has been enjoying higher average room rates recently.

Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels executive vice-president Chee Hok Yean re-affirmed that interest for hotel sites here has remained high and the fact that the site had not been triggered earlier probably had more to do with potential foreign developers' unfamiliarity with the Reserve List system.

'Those who trigger the tender process usually don't end up winning the site so it can appear to be a waste of time for them,' said - Ms Chee Hok Yean,Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels' executive vice-president

Ms Chee does not believe land prices for hotels are increasing too rapidly. 'Prices are still sustainable,' she said, adding that both foreign and local developers are particularly interested in the hotel sector as it is picking up from a 'low level'.

The nearby Swissotel Merchant Court Hotel currently enjoys occupancy of more than 80 per cent and an average room rate of about $150.

The Upper Pickering Street site is located within walking distance of the MRT stations at Chinatown and Clarke Quay. It has a site area of about 0.7 ha and a gross plot ratio of 4.2. It can generate a maximum permissible gross floor area of about 29,227 sqm (314,597 sq ft).

Ms Chee expects that the potential developer will want to build a four-star business hotel and reckons that bids could be in the range of $560 per square feet per plot ratio.