Mountbatten Road Office Site Draws Top Bid Of $15m

Source : The Straits Times, Jan 10, 2008

THREE bids were lodged yesterday for a transitional office site in Mountbatten Road released to ease the current tight supply situation in the office market.

The modest result was still a better showing than the single bid placed for a transitional office site put up for tender in Tampines recently.

Mezzo Properties, a small real estate development and construction firm controlled by directors Lim Kim Hong and Lim Huixing, topped the Mountbatten Road tender with a bid of $14.89 million or $69.2 per sq ft (psf) of gross floor area. Superbowl Land came just behind with $14.8 million or $68.7 psf, with Soilbuild Group Holdings well back at $10.93 million or $50.77 psf.

Mezzo's bid is below the Tampines bid of $80.65 psf.

Knight Frank director of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak said the price was lower mainly because the site does not boast facilities nearby while Tampines is a regional business centre.

Cushman & Wakefield managing director Donald Han said the lower price reflects the short window of six to 12 months in which to get the building rented before a large office supply comes onstream in 2010.

The site has a 15-year lease and a maximum permissible gross floor area of 20,000 sq m or 215,278 sq ft.

The Mezzo directors also participate in the property market via other firms. Last October, they topped a public tender for an industrial site in Sin Ming Lane with a bid of $68.9 million.