Second tower of Marina One Residences to launch from $2,700 psf

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July 1, 2018 6:30 AM SGT

M+S, the joint venture between Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional and its Singapore counterpart Temasek Holdings, started private previews of the second tower of Marina One Residences on June 18, with the launch scheduled for early July.

Units at the premium tower at Marina One Residences — called Garden Tower — will be priced from $2,400 psf, with average prices in the range of $2,700 to $2,800 psf, says Kemmy Tan, CEO of M+S.

Marina One Residences will launch its second residential tower early this month (Pictures: Samuel Isaac Chua)

Interest among prospective buyers has been strong, notes Tan Siew May, CBRE senior director of residential projects. “The indicative price at an average of $2,700 to $2,800 psf looks attractive compared with recent land prices; for instance, the en bloc sale of Park House on Orchard Boulevard was at $2,910 psf per plot ratio,” she says. “This implies that future project prices will be higher.”

The Garden Tower and the adjacent Park Tower are a mirror image of each other, with each 34-storey block containing 521 units. This brings the total number of units at Marina One Residences to 1,042 units.

The development has a wide mix of unit types, with sizes that are considered large by today’s standards. The units at Garden Tower will have unobstructed sea views and a view of Marina Bay. Some of the units are slightly larger than those at Park Tower.

All units at Garden Tower will have views of Marina Bay Sands and the sea

One-bedroom and one-bedroom-plus- study units at Garden Tower are 657 to 775 sq ft, but there will be more of the larger units. Two-bedroom units are 980 to 1,066 sq ft, while two-bedroom-plus-study units are 1,141 to 1,281 sq ft. Three-bedroom- plus-study units are 1,561 to 1,593 sq ft and four-bedroom units are 2,034 to 2,250 sq ft. Penthouses are 6,491 to 8,568 sq ft.

Upside potential

Launched in October 2014, Park Tower is 92% sold so far, with all the one- and two-bedroom units taken up. Only 40 units are still available, and these are mainly three- and four-bedroom units. The average price of units sold then was $2,251 psf, according to caveats lodged for the three months from October to December 2014. The average transacted price is now $2,610 psf, according to caveats lodged for the three months from April to June this year, which reflects a 16.4% price appreciation.

“Buyers of units at Marina One Residences can definitely look forward to capital appreciation,” says Ong Choon Fah, CEO of Edmund Tie & Co (ET&Co).

Developer M+S will continue offering the remaining three-bedroom units at Park Tower

An all-time high of $3,157 psf was achieved at Marina One Residences in May last year when a 2,250 sq ft, four-bedroom unit on the 32nd level of Park Tower was sold for $7.1 million. This year, the highest psf price achieved was $3,148, when a 1,518 sq ft, three-bedroom unit on the 29th floor was sold for $4.78 million.

About half the buyers at Marina One Residences are Singapore citizens, while the other half is a mix of foreigners and permanent residents. The majority of the foreign buyers are from Asia — China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong — although there is also a small percentage from the US, Europe and the Middle East.

The one-bedroom units with interiors by Takenouchi Webb are located at Garden Tower

‘Strong sales momentum’

Tan of M+S is confident that the Garden Tower units “will be quickly snapped up” at an average price of $2,700 to $2,800 psf. “Demand is strong among Singapore buyers and foreign investors,” she says.

ET&Co’s Ong is of the same opinion. About 77% of the units at Marina One Residences are one- and two-bedroom apartments, she notes. Given its reasonable pricing and location in the Marina Bay/CBD core, the project is assured of “strong sales momentum”, as one- and two-bedroom units are popular among owner- occupiers and investors, she adds. “As the project is already completed, homebuyers can move in and investors can immediately put their units on the market for rent.”

Kemmy Tan, CEO of M+S, is confident that units at Garden Tower will be quickly snapped up

Marina One Residences is part of the $7 billion Marina One integrated development that was completed last year. It includes two office towers — East and West Towers — with a total of 1.88 million sq ft of Grade-A office space and a retail/F&B podium with 140,000 sq ft of space.

Marina One Residences will be linked to three MRT stations: the future Shenton Way station on the upcoming Thomson-East Coast Line, the existing Downtown station on the Downtown Line, and the Marina Bay interchange station for three lines — North-South and Circle Lines and the Thomson-East Coast Line.

No new launches in the immediate future

Within the Marina Bay-CBD-Tanjong Pagar neighbourhood, there are no new, launch-ready projects in the immediate future.

The future pipeline, however, will see a new 83,959 sq ft “white” site on Marina View, off Straits Boulevard, released under the Reserve List of the 2H2018 Government Land Sales programme. It is estimated to yield 905 units, 540 hotel rooms and 21,528 sq ft of commercial space. The site will be available from October.

The sea view from Marina One Residences

V on Shenton, a 510-unit residential tower linked to the new UIC Building — a redevelopment of the former UIC Building and completed last year — is already 86% sold. Average prices have increased 17%, from $2,011 psf when the project was first launched in August 2012 to $2,353 psf this year.

At the Tanjong Pagar Centre integrated development, a four-bedroom unit on the 58th floor of the 181-unit luxury condominium Wallich Residence was sold for $16 million, or a record-breaking $4,560 psf, according to a caveat lodged on June 4. A 1,765 sq ft, three-bedroom unit on the 53rd floor was recently sold for $6.36 million ($3,603 psf). Wallich Residence spans the 39th to 64th floors of Tanjong Pagar Centre and sits atop the 38-storey Guoco Tower. The project was completed last year.

The average sale price at Wallich Residence has also gone up. When the project was first released for sale, the average sale price was $3,055 psf. In the first three months of 2018, it was $3,393 psf and today, it is $3,618 psf, according to caveats lodged from April to June so far.

Premium from completion, community

“Most projects command a premium upon completion,” says Ong of ET&Co. “The completion of integrated developments such as Marina One helps shape the CBD.”

The retail podium features F&B offerings such as Majestic Restaurant, Nude Grill & Chill, Pizza Express and Wakanui Grill. Virgin Active has also taken up 26,000 sq ft space for its gym, and on weekends, it conducts yoga classes at the central square, or “Heart”, at Marina One.

Yoga classes are regularly conducted at the central square, or ‘Heart’, at Marina One (Picture: M+S)

The two office towers — East and West Towers — are 80% leased. While 80% of the tenants at the East Tower have moved in, those at the West Tower are progressively moving in. There is a wide mix of tenants, and given the towers’ location in the CBD and the new downtown, there are many financial companies and MNCs, such as Japanese banking giant MUFG Bank, Australian investment bank Macquarie Bank, Swiss private bank Julius Baer, insurance firm Prudential, professional services company PwC and legal firm Rajah & Tann. Streaming media giant Netflix and oil and gas behemoth BP are also tenants. Co-working operator JustCo has taken up 40,000 sq ft at the East Tower and another 40,000 sq ft at the West Tower.

When Marina One Residences and the office towers are fully occupied, M+S’ Tan reckons there will be a “vibrant community” of some 19,000 people. “A community of this size in Marina Bay, together with the scale of the development, brings to life URA’s plan for Marina Bay to be dynamic, mixed-use and sustainable district,” she notes.

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