Tanjong Pagar Hotel Site May Fetch $750 psf ppr

Source : The Business Times, February 22, 2008

CONTINUING its rollout of hotel sites amid the current shortage of hotel rooms, the Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday made available for application a reserve-list site in the Tanjong Pagar area.

The 99-year leasehold site, at the corner of Gopeng Street and Peck Seah Street, can be developed into a 30-storey hotel with about 330 hotel rooms.

The site will only be launched for tender upon successful application by a developer with an undertaking to bid at a minimum price which is acceptable to the state.

CB Richard Ellis executive director Li Hiaw Ho estimates that the plot could be worth about $700-750 per square foot of potential gross floor area.

Around the middle of last year, URA sold nearby hotel sites at Tanjong Pagar Road for $573 psf per plot ratio and $562 psf ppr.

The planning authority also awarded a hotel plot at Upper Pickering Street at $805 psf ppr and another plot at New Market Street/Merchant Road for $762 psf ppr in October 2007.

The latest plot, with a 2,311.3 square metre land area, has an 8.4 plot ratio (ratio of maximum potential gross floor area to land area) and a 30-storey height limit.

'The plot will be ideal for a four-star business hotel serving the needs of businesses in the Central Business District,' Mr Li said.

URA said that the Tanjong Pagar area was a 'prominent gateway leading directly into the main financial and business areas of Shenton Way, Raffles Place and Marina Bay'.

'It is also home to several hotels which have been established to serve the business community and tourist visitors. These include business hotels like the Amara and M Hotel, as well as award-winning hotels like Berjaya Hotel and The Scarlet.'

The planning authority, which is due to release Master Plan 2008 later this year, also noted that 'the successful sale and on-going development of several new office, high-rise residential and hotel sites in the area will further enhance the vibrancy and activities of the Tanjong Pagar commercial district'.