The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) has awarded the tender for the state-owned property at 26 Evans Road to local hospitality management turnkey solutions provider Cover Projects.

The tender for the refurbishment and repurposing of the conserved property for various uses, such as serviced apartments, students' hostels, offices or F&B use, was launched on Aug 16 last year. SLA encouraged co-living concepts when it launched the tender for the Evans Road property, which will be for a lease period of 5+4 years.

A total of 25 bids ranging from $63,000 a month to $319,000 a month were received at the close of the tender on Oct 12. Local construction company Samwoh Corp submitted the highest bid of $319,000 per month.

Read also: SLA launches tender for senior co-living concept at 98 Henderson Road

Other bids came from established co-living operators LHN Group, which launched the Coliwoo brand and The Assembly Place, which submitted bids of $165,000 and $168,000, respectively.

The tender was evaluated based on price and quality aspects, with the successful bidder selected based on the highest combined score. Even though Cover Projects had submitted the second-highest bid of $265,000 a month, it was awarded the tender for the project.

The property at 26 Evans Road sits on a sprawling site of about 153,821 sq ft. It's located off Bukit Timah and within walking distance of the Singapore Botanic Gardens. On the site are several buildings, comprising two 3-storey buildings, another two 2-storey buildings and four single-storey buildings. They have a combined estimated gross floor area of about 69,593 sq ft. There are 56 surface parking spaces for cars.