Bus interchange plot in Bukit Panjang slated for mixed use

Published November 27, 2010

Bus interchange plot in Bukit Panjang slated for mixed use

By KALPANA RASHIWALA


THE Urban Redevelopment Authority has made a commercial/residential plot in the Bukit Panjang area available for application.
The Reserve List site is next to an existing LRT station and the future Bukit Panjang MRT Station under Downtown Line 2, which will be connected to key precincts in the city centre such as Bugis and Marina Bay.

At least 35 per cent of the 612,078 sq ft maximum gross floor area (GFA) must be set aside for commercial use.

The project's residential component could yield about 310 apartments. The 1.9 hectare site - at the corner of Petir and Jelebu roads - is occupied by a bus interchange, which will have to be redeveloped and integrated within the future development. The GFA for the permanent bus interchange will be counted as part of the total GFA for commercial use, URA said.

Despite the fact that the state will continue to roll out a substantial quantum of residential land through the Confirmed List in the first half of 2011, some developers could still be keen on applying for the Bukit Panjang mixed-use plot to be released for launch from the state's Reserve List if they are keen on embarking on a suburban shopping centre development.

And the sale of the residential component would help finance the development, analysts say. 'Those keen on the site would have to be confident of making the shopping centre successful,' says Credo Real Estate executive director Ong Teck Hui. 'The mall would have to be sufficiently large and have an attractive tenant mix to create critical mass and compete with the surrounding malls.'

The plot is a stone's throw from Bukit Panjang Plaza and Ten Mile Junction.

Cushman & Wakefield senior manager (Asia Pacific research) Ong Kah Seng says that if the plot were launched today, it could draw about five bids, with top offers ranging from $330-370 per sq ft per plot ratio.

'They would probably be looking at an average selling price of about $770-830 psf for the apartments assuming they are marketed in the second half of next year,' he said.

Earlier this year, Far East Organization clinched the Ten Mile Junction site in a state tender for $164 million or $437 psf ppr. It plans to retrofit the existing retail space to create a new mall called Junction 10, with about 120,000 sq ft of retail space, and develop 338 small office-home office (SoHo) units. The construction cost for the entire project is estimated at $100 million.

The SoHo project - called The Tennery - will be launched in the first quarter of next year. The units are expected to be upmarket - along the lines of Far East's The Greenwich in the Seletar Hills area.


Source:www.businesstimes.com.sg