CapitaCommercial Trust To Buy 1 George Street Building For S$1.2b

Source : Channel NewsAsia, 27 March 2008

CapitaCommercial Trust (CCT) has been given a call option to buy the 1 George Street building for nearly S$1.2 billion.

This translates to S$2,600 per square foot of net lettable area.

CapitaLand will also provide yield protection to CCT, ensuring a minimum net property income of some S$50 million per annum.

This means a net property yield of 4.25% per annum on the purchase price for five years until 2013.

CCT said the acquisition will be funded by debt and it will not place out new units or do a rights issue.

1 George Street was completed in 2004 and is one of the newest premier commercial properties in Singapore catering to the financial services industry and multinational companies.

The property is located in the core of Singapore's central business district, within walking distance to the Raffles Place and Clarke Quay MRT stations.

It is currently 100% occupied by tenants that include The Royal Bank of Scotland, law firm WongPartnership and insurer Lloyd's of London. - CNA/ac

Australia's Curtin University Of Technology To Open Singapore Campus

Source : Channel NewsAsia, 26 March 2008

Top Australian institution – the Curtin University of Technology – will be setting up shop here, adding another boost to the tertiary scene in Singapore.

Students can expect degree programmes in business and technology when the campus opens in early December.

Artist's impression of the Singapore campus of Curtin University of Technology

The former ITE Balestier campus at Jalan Rajah may not look impressive now, but come December, the buildings will be given a makeover and a new lease of life as the Singapore campus of Australia's Curtin University of Technology.

Details of the S$40 million project are still being worked out, but Australian education service provider, Navitas, said Curtin Singapore will be of the same standard as the university's other campuses in Malaysia and Australia.

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Rod Jones, CEO of Navitas, said: "One of the things we would encourage is for students studying in Curtin Singapore campus to do one semester in Australia because part of an international degree is understanding the culture and the country in which the degree is being offered."

Asked if Navitas and Curtin were deterred by the experience of another Australian university, the University of New South Wales which shut its Asia campus here soon after it opened last year, Mr Jones said that unlike UNSW Asia, which was a research university, Curtin saw itself as a teaching university.

Compared to the former, Curtin's model is less expensive to manage.

Curtin Singapore will open its gates to over 900 students, including freshmen and existing students of Curtin's joint programmes with industry partners here.

These partners are Singapore Human Resource Institute, the Marketing Institute of Singapore, and the Singapore Institute of Materials Management.

Although the initial cohort of Curtin students will be fairly modest, the university expects to grow to a size of about 3,000 students in three years.

Talks are also underway to build hostel facilities at the campus, but details have yet to be confirmed.

According to Navitas, there will be some degree of financial aid, but no details can be offered at the moment. - CNA/so

URA Plans New Community Space At Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station

Source : Channel NewsAsia, 26 March 2008

The open space above the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station will be Singapore's latest venue for community activities and performances.

This is all part of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA)'s plan to increase the number of public spaces along the Orchard Road area.

By July next year, the plot of land at Dhoby Ghaut will be transformed into a new space that will host community events and performances.

Open space above Dhoby Ghaut MRT station

The project is part of URA's strategy to provide variety along the Orchard Road shopping belt.

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Fun Siew Leng, Director, Urban Planning and Design, URA, said: "We'd like to continue to safeguard some of these vacant state land for future rejuvenation for the area. So in the interim, we thought that it's better to put it to a better use. We put some facilities and amenities there and the public can get to enjoy the space better."

The site sits at the crossroads of three rail lines and features an integrated borderless design.

The centrepiece will be this outdoor amphitheatre that will serve as a stage for community performances.

Artist's impression of open space above Dhoby Ghaut MRT station

The unique "basket-weave" design of aluminium screens can seat up to 500 for an "outdoor room" concept.

Chan Soo KIan, Design Director, SCDA Architects, said: "It's a little bit of form follows function and form dictating function. We're working with various forces. We're also responding to the unique site conditions as it's next to the MRT and next to several drop off and bus stations. So we had to approach from the point of view that this structure would not have a front or a back."

"There'll be more land area for people to do their activities and there won't be so many buildings," said one member of the public.

"Great because people need more space, more places like this to have morning exercise," said another.

The project will cost around S$4 million.

URA says feedback was gathered from community stakeholders and their input incorporated into the final design.

Community stakeholders included the People's Association and the Singapore Management University to better understand their needs. - CNA/ch

Gold Ridge Puts In Top Bid Of S$801m For Serangoon Central White Site

Source : Channel NewsAsia, 26 March 2008

Gold Ridge has put in the top bid of nearly S$801 million for a white site at Serangoon Central.

The price works out to S$850 per square foot per plot ratio for the 99-year leasehold site.

This is 10 percent more than the next highest bid of S$727 million from Serangoon Community Developments.

All in, the site attracted 6 bids, with the lowest by Peak Star at S$215 million.

Analysts expect a full retail centre to be built on the site.

Consultants CB Richard Ellis says the retail mall could be around the size of Parkway Parade, IMM Building or Jurong Point and yield a net lettable area of around 600,000 square feet.

Consultants Knight Frank says the proposed development has the potential to be a regional retail mall and draw shoppers from the housing estates along the Northeast Line and the future Circle Line.

Analysts believe the retail units can be leased out at between S$10 and S$14 per square foot.

Retail malls are expected to do well in the short and medium term.

Retail-property REITs may also be interested in buying such malls after they are developed.

The Land Transport Authority, which offered the site, will study the bids and announce the award of the tender later. - CNA/ch

Pramerica Makes $800m Top Bid For Serangoon Site

Source : The Business Times, March 27, 2008

Breakeven cost for full retail development under $2,000 psf: CEO

Entities linked to fund manager Pramerica Real Estate Investors (Asia) placed the top bid of $800.9 million or $850 per square foot of potential gross floor area for a plum 'white' site above Serangoon MRT Station.























The plot is expected to be developed into a sizeable mall with a net lettable area of about 650,000 sq ft. This would be similar to Parkway Parade and IMM.

Pramerica Asia chief executive Victoria Sharpe told BT that the group is planning a full-retail development on the site, and that its breakeven cost would be 'slightly below $2,000 per square foot (psf)' of net lettable area.

Based on this estimate, analysts reckon that Pramerica Asia's total investment in the development would be around $1.3 billion.

The tender for the site at Serangoon Central, conducted by the Land Transport Authority, attracted six bids.

Pramerica Asia's bid was 10 per cent higher than the next highest offer of $727 million or $772 psf per plot ratio (ppr), by a unit of Australia's Lend Lease Group.

'We're an experienced retail player in Singapore and we're very pleased with the outcome today. This is a site in a premier location, integrated with the MRT stations,' Ms Sharpe said.

The 269,180 sq ft plot is above both the existing Serangoon North East Line station and the Serangoon Circle Line station which will open next year.

The plot is expected to be developed into a sizeable mall with a net lettable area of about 650,000 sq ft. This would be similar to Parkway Parade and IMM.

'The proposed mall's location at a strategic intersection of the present North East Line and the future Circle Line, as well as its size, will allow the centre to not only tap into the existing traffic from Serangoon, Ang Mo Kio, Hougang and Sengkang but will probably be a major magnet for shoppers living beyond these immediate housing estates,' CB Richard Ellis executive director Li Hiaw Ho said.

Suburban malls in Singapore are currently valued at about $1,800-2,000 psf.

'Assuming an average overall gross monthly retail rental of about $12-13 psf that is achievable for a retail centre in this location, the developers could look forward to a net income yield of about 5.5 per cent on a stabilised basis,' he added.

Ms Sharpe said that the asset is likely to be held by several funds managed by Pramerica Asia including its pan-Asian funds - like the Asia Property Investment Fund and possibly its Asian Retail Mall Fund (ARMF) series.

Gold Ridge Pte Ltd, the entity that Pramerica used to bid at yesterday's tender, is owned by ASPF II (Mauritius) Ltd and Yunnan Gold (Mauritius) Ltd.

ARMF I owns four malls in Singapore - Tiong Bahru Plaza, White Sands in Pasir Ris, Century Square in Tampines and Hougang Mall - while ARMF II owns Liang Court and is also developing the Tampines 1 mall.

The other parties which bid for the Serangoon Central site were a unit of Frasers Centrepoint, which bid about $750 psf ppr; a joint venture involving the trustee for CapitaMall Trust, NTUC Income Insurance Co-op and NTUC FairPrice Co-op ($702 psf ppr); a tie-up between City Developments, Hong Leong Holdings and TID ($426 psf ppr); and Peak Properties ($228 psf ppr).

The plot had been expected to draw top bids of about $600-700 psf ppr. The 'white' site can be developed into any combination of the following uses: commercial, hotel, residential, and sports and recreational. But the 'highest and best use' for the property is retail, property consultants say.

Separately, the Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday made available for application two 99-year leasehold reserve list sites - a hotel plot at the corner of Clemenceau Avenue and Havelock Road, and a private condo site at Upper Changi Road North/Flora Drive, next to Edelweiss Park Condo.

Mr Li estimates that the hotel site could be worth around $700-750 psf ppr, based on the $805 psf ppr and $762 psf ppr prices that two 99-year hotel sites at Upper Pickering Street and New Market Street/Merchant Road respectively fetched last October. 'The hotel sector is bursting at the seams but it can be hard getting funding because of the credit squeeze,' he said. Knight Frank director Nicholas Mak's estimate of the site's value is slightly lower, at $600-650 psf ppr. The Upper Changi condo plot is expected to fetch about $180-250 psf ppr, property consultants said.