SHP's $265.3m Bid Wins Race Course Site

Source : The Business Times, September 28, 2007

A CONSORTIUM that includes several prominent doctors has put in the highest bid for a hospital cum hotel site in Race Course Road - $265.3 million or $431 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).

The consortium, called Singapore HealthPartners Pte Ltd (SHP), includes doctors Charles Chan, Leslie Lam and Maurice Choo. A major shareholder in Singapore HealthPartners (SHP) is Berjaya Leisure (Cayman) Ltd, which is thought to be linked to Berjaya Leisure Capital led by Malaysian businessman Vincent Tan. There are 38 shareholders in total.

Directors of SHP contacted by BT declined to comment on the company's plans for the 13,625 sq m site but a medical centre cum hotel seems likely.

The site has a maximum permissible gross floor area of 57,225 sq m and at least 40 per cent of this must be used as a hotel.

CBRE Research executive director Li Hiaw Ho believes that a hotel with 550 rooms could be built. 'Accompanying family members of patients can also patronise the hotel,' he said.

Mr Li also highlighted that it was recently announced that $2 billion would be needed to expand Singapore's health care infrastructure.

'The development of this site as a hospital cum medical centre targeting medical visitors would contribute to Singapore's efforts at becoming a medical hub for the region,' he said, adding that according to the Singapore Tourism Board, more than 150,000 international patients come to Singapore each year for a whole range of medical care.

Average occupancy of hotels was also at a high of 89.4 per cent in August, Mr Li noted.

Whether more government land sale sites could go to the medical sector is not known.

Interestingly, the Race Course Road site was initially not expected to be for hospital use.

The site was first made available for sale in August 2006 as a white site for possible commercial, office, residential and/or hotel use. Then in April this year, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said in a statement: 'In line with increased interest in hospital development, URA has been working with the Ministry of Health and EDB (Economic Development Board) to review new sites for hospital development.'