Monday, September 8, 2008

Er, What Is White Site?

Source : The Sunday Times, Sep 7, 2008

Where do you see this?

In land sales programmes and tender announcements.

What does it mean?

A white site is a site for which a range of uses is allowed, such as commercial, hotel, residential and retail.

Developers have the flexibility to decide on the mix of uses and the amount of space for each use, subject to conditions.

They may, for example, plan to have office units, a hotel and apartments on a white site, or a retail mall-cum-apartments on it.

Why is it important?

White sites allow developers to respond to changing market conditions without incurring a hefty differential premium for any change of use.

They could change the mix of use or the quantum of each use during the lease period to suit new market conditions. For example, they could in 20 years' time decide to convert some uses to retail space if there is demand.

So you want to use the term? Just say...

'The site at the Ophir/ Rochor corridor is a white site, so expect to see anything from offices to shops being built there.'

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