Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Macquarie Puts In Highest Bid For Land Parcel B At Marina View

Source : Channel NewsAsia, 13 November 2007

Macquarie Global Property has put in the highest bid for a white site at Marina View, at just under S$953 million.

Picture shows land parcel A and B at Marina View

But the tender price for land parcel B is still below market expectations.

Macquarie, a private equity real estate fund management company, had previously clinched land parcel A, the site next to the current one.

Macquarie was one of two bidders eyeing land parcel B.

The other bidder was Brilliant Hotel Trustee Pte Ltd which tendered for $898 million.

The two tender prices are $55 million apart, compared to the $200 million average spread for land parcel A.

Market watchers say this is the clearest signal yet that the land grab frenzy in the central business district has peaked.

Jones Lang LaSalle's head of research & consultancy, Dr Chua Yang Liang, said: "This is an indication of how developers are perceiving the office market. Most of these sites, should they be developed, will come on stream in 4 or 5 years down the road, possibly as soon as 2010. By that time, the Marina Bay Financial Centre will be released already. So, I think developers as a whole are looking at that market in totality."

Just two months ago, land parcel A was sold for more than $2 billion.

The sale price beat market projections and raised price expectations for parcel B to at least $2 billion. And even at that amount, analysts had expected more bidders to join in the fray.

While this has failed to turn out, analysts said land parcel B still has potential.

The 99-year lease white site spans about 0.9 hectares and yields a maximum permissible gross floor area of around 110,000 square metres.

At least 60 per cent of it will be for office development.

The tender also requires a hotel development on another 25 per cent of the space. This is expected to yield around 550 hotel rooms.

Commercial, residential or more hotel developments can make up the remaining area. - CNA/ir

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