URA Launches Hotel Site In Balestier Road

Source : The Business Times, April 1, 2008

Analysts say the land could fetch $350-$470 psf per plot ratio

THE Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday put a one-of-a-kind hotel site in Balestier Road on the market.

The 1.77-hectare plot, next to Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, includes a 0.46-hectare park.

The park will be named Zhongshan Park and the successful developer will have to provide a public event space there.

The land’s proximity to the memorial hall allows a unique hotel project that draws inspiration from Chinese culture and architecture, URA said.

The memorial hall gets about 50,000 visitors a year now, but URA believes the hotel will boost numbers.

Walk in the park: The land's proximity to the memorial hall allows a unique hotel project that draws inspiration from Chinese culture and architecture

The site is the first released by the government where a developer will have to integrate a park.

The site will go to the highest tenderer, but the development proposal will be reviewed by an advisory panel to ‘ensure a well designed development of appropriate quality and standard’, URA said.

The site has a maximum permissible gross floor area (GFA) of 430,556 sq ft.

At least 60 per cent of this must be set aside for hotel and hotel-related use. The rest can be used for commercial and residential purposes.

URA reckons about 650 hotel rooms can be built on the site.

Analysts say the land could fetch $350-$470 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) - which works out to $150.7-$202.4 million.

But the tender could draw fewer than five bids because of the challenges a developer will face, said Nicholas Mak, director of research and consultancy at Knight Frank.

The developer will need a strong concept to maximise the historical theme of the memorial hall, as well as a plan to promote and increase the usage of the park, which is intended to be a selling point for the hotel, Mr Mak said.

The site is not close to an MRT station, he pointed out. And there is an element of uncertainty because the developer’s plans will be reviewed by an independent panel.

The government identified Balestier as a Singapore ‘identity node’ in 2002 because of its heritage value and old world charm.

Balestier Road right now has a mix of conserved shophouses that were built in the 1840s and modern commercial and residential buildings.

The tender for the site closes at noon on July 16.