Bravo Buys Makeway View For $162.8m In En Bloc Sale

Source : The Business Times, November 2, 2007

It plans to build about 70-80 loft apartments on the freehold site

BRAVO Building Construction group, which bought Tulip Garden and Pender Court a few months back, has now clinched Makeway View in the Newton area for $162.8 million through a collective sale.

Launch plan: Makeway View is on a freehold site of 41,582 sq ft that is designated for residential use with a 2.8 plot ratio under Master Plan 2003. Bravo says its project on the site may be ready for launch around Q3 or Q4 next year

The price works out to a land cost of $1,583 per square foot (psf) of potential gross floor area including an estimated $21.5 million development charge (DC).

The breakeven cost for a new project on the site will be about $2,100 psf, a Bravo spokeswoman said.

'We're planning about 70-80 loft apartments, with sizes ranging from 1,500 sq ft to 1,800 sq ft,' she said. 'The project, which could be about 23-24 storeys high, may be ready for launch around Q3 or Q4 next year.'

Makeway View is on a freehold site of 41,582 sq ft that is designated for residential use with a 2.8 plot ratio under Master Plan 2003.

Knight Frank brokered the sale through a private treaty after a tender that closed last month.

The deal is subject to approval by the Strata Titles Board.

The buyer is Makeway Residences Pte Ltd, which is related to Bravo Building Construction.

'At the purchase price of $162.8 million, Makeway View owners will receive gross sale proceeds of about $3.7 million to $10.4 million per unit,' Knight Frank said yesterday.

Makeway View's existing 32 apartments and penthouses range in size from 1,442 sq ft to 5,307 sq ft.

Bravo's spokeswoman also told BT the group plans to develop the freehold Pender Court site off West Coast Highway, which it bought in July, into 48 cluster terrace housing units.

'We're in discussions with an overseas fund which is keen on buying the entire development for about $180 million, or about $3.8 million per unit on average,' she said. 'Each house will come with a private pool.'

Bravo's acquisition of Tulip Garden, also in July, was for $516 million or $1,018 psf per plot ratio. No DC is payable.

Bravo is a five-year-old property and construction outfit that has bought more than a dozen sites in Singapore since September last year, including Castle Court on Changi Road, Regent Court in Serangoon and Koon Seng House in the Still Road area.