The tender for the residential site at Hillview Rise closed on May 3 drew nine bids. The site has a land area of 153,882 sq ft and can yield a maximum gross floor area (GFA) of 430,879 sq ft, or about 535 condominium units.
The site’s main attraction is that there’s limited supply of new condominiums in the area, says Nicholas Mak, executive director of ZACD Group. “However, there are a few vacant land parcels in the vicinity which could be launched for sale in the future, resulting in future competition for this project,” he adds.
The GLS site at Hillview Rise (Credit: URA)
The tender is based on a two-envelope system with the winner selected based on concept and innovation construction solutions, as well as bid price.
According to Mak, the site drew more bids than the seven received for the adjacent site when it was put up for tender in 2012. That site was purchased by Kingsford Development for $638 psf ppr, and has since been developed into the 521-unit Kingsford Hillview Peak. In 2011, the site adjacent to Kingsford Hillview Peak drew 12 bids, with Far East Organization winning the site for $672 psf ppr, which has in turn been developed into the 528-unit The Hillier.
A joint venture between Singapore’s two listed biggest property groups, CapitaLand and City Developments Ltd (CDL) submitted two bids with two different concepts. CDL’s parent company, Hong Leong Holdings also submitted a bid via two wholly-owned subsidiaries, Intrepid Investments and Garden Estates.
Other joint venture partners who submitted bids include the construction arm of Singapore-listed Koh Brothers Group and Singapore-listed property developer Sing Holdings; the privately held property developer Hoi Hup Realty and its long-term partner, Malaysian listed property giant Sunway Developments; as well as Singapore-listed Chinese developer Yanlord Land and construction company Soilbuild Group Holdings.
Those who submitted bids on their own were the likes of Singapore-listed construction and property group Chip Eng Seng Corp; CSC Land Group (the property development arm of China State Construction Engineering Corp); and Qingjian Realty, the Singapore business of Hong Kong-listed construction and engineering group CNQC International Holdings.
Interest level in the site is positive since quite a number of parties are prepared to compete for the site with the fairly technical evaluation under which construction productivity plan takes up 75% of the evaluation weightage, says Ong Teck Hui, JLL national director of research & consultancy. As such, many of the bidders were those with construction background, he points out.
ZACD's Mak estimates bids to be in the range of $388 million to $431 million, or $900 to $1,000 psf ppr.