Hotel, luxury apartments at Capitol site

by May Wong
05:55 AM Feb 02, 2011

SINGAPORE - By the end of 2014, the landmark Capitol site will be transformed to boast developments including a new hotel and luxury residential apartments, each costing up to $4 million.

The Capitol site comprises the Capitol Theatre, Stamford House, Capitol Centre, and Capitol Building. Work on the 99-year lease, 1.43-hectare site, will begin in the third quarter of this year. The project's investment, including the land cost of $250 million, is estimated to hit $750 million.

The consortium - led by Mr Pua Seck Guan's Perennial Real Estate, together with Mdm Sukmawati Widjaja's Top Global and Mr Kwee Liong Seen's Chesham Properties - won the tender last October. It signed the building agreement with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday.

The developers have set aside about $30 million to restore and conserve the Capitol Theatre. It will be the largest single- screen cinema-cum-performance theatre with about 800 seats. Built in 1929, the theatre screened its last movie in 1998.

The restored Capitol Theatre will see it hosting local theatre and dance groups for half the season. Cinema operator Golden Village will make use of the theatre for the remaining half to screen blockbuster movies.

Capitol Centre will be transformed into a new 15-storey building. It will house eateries, retail shops and up to 70 residential units. The two- to four-bedroom apartments will cost over $2,500 per sq ft and it could be launched as early as the third quarter of this year.

The apartments, industry watchers say, will have no shortage of buyers. Dr Chua Yang Liang, head of research, South-east Asia, Jones Lang LaSalle, said; "It's probably a good size in terms of market demand there. And being large units, again, they are pretty attractive."

Source: www.todayonline.com

Top Print Edition Stories
Published February 2, 2011

Developer shoots for moon on Capitol site but braces for chill

By KALPANA RASHIWALA

(SINGAPORE) The $750 million mixed development project that will come up on the Capitol site will include some 60-70 luxury apartments which are expected to be launched in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

The consortium developing the project has secured debt financing from OCBC. Market watchers reckon the project's gearing ratio could be about 70 per cent.

Internal rates of return will be 'very fantastic... more than the teens', Pua Seck Guan, CEO of Perennial Real Estate Pte Ltd, told reporters yesterday. He and his co-investors hold a 40 per cent stake in the consortium developing the retail/theatre, hotel and residential project that will be developed on the Capitol site.

The historic Capitol Theatre, Capitol Building and Stamford House will be conserved and restored for adaptive re-use while a new 15-storey structure will be built on the existing Capitol Centre site.

The other members of the consortium - Chesham Properties (controlled by members of the Kwee family who own Pontiac Land Group) and Sukmawati Widjaja's Top Global - each hold a 30 per cent stake.

Mr Pua said the consortium is in 'a very comfortable position' with regard to its breakeven costs for all components of the project, given the competitive price it paid for the site - $250 million or nearly $461 per square foot per plot ratio.

'We can make very good money from this project, but it's not just about making money. We must do justice to this project,' he said.

The final pricing for the apartments, which are slated for launch later this year, will depend on market conditions prevailing at the time. For now, the pricing expectation has been clipped to about $2,500-3,000 per square foot from an initial range of $3,000-3,500 psf following the introduction of the Jan 13 property cooling measures, according to Hano Maeleo, CEO of Top Global.

The apartments will range from 1,200 sq ft to over 2,000 sq ft and likely comprise two- to four-bedroom units. They will be housed on the third to 15th levels of the building that will be built on the current location of Capitol Centre.

Levels one and two, and basements one and two, of the same building will house retail space. The existing street between Capitol Theatre and Stamford House/Capitol Building will be transformed into a glass-covered pedestrianised galleria lined with eateries.

There will also be an underground mall link to City Hall MRT Station, and retail space on the ground floors of Capitol Building and Stamford House.

The development will have at least eight flagship retail and 30 F&B stores, and at least 40 per cent of total retail space in the project will be dedicated to new-to-market brands, revealed Mr Kwee Liong Seen, director of Chesham Properties.

Said Mr Pua: 'We will be different because this site is unique and deserves a lot of our careful attention and effort to make it different. So if you are just another Bugis Junction, I think we will fail and we will not have done this site justice.'

The $750 million total development cost includes the land price of $250 million, construction costs (inclusive of at least $30 million to restore Capitol Theatre) and the cost of fitting out a luxury hotel with about 200 rooms on the second to fourth levels of the four-storey Capitol Building and Stamford House.

A building agreement was signed yesterday between the consortium members and the Singapore government, which sold the Capitol site to the consortium in 99-year leasehold tenure.

Capitol Theatre will be restored and upgraded into a single-screen cinema with about 800 seats and alternate as a performance theatre. Ground level access will enable the hosting of a wide range of activities from first-run screenings to red carpet movie premieres, to in-house theatre and dance productions.

The project is slated for completion by end-2014.

Richard Meier, managing partner of the eponymous US firm that is the design and concept architect, said: 'The new structure will complement the existing historical architecture, creating a new civic centre that will look to the future while it is respectful of the past.'

The consortium's bid was selected following a dual-envelope tender last year, which drew 14 bids. The winning consortium offered the highest land price among the three bidders that were shortlisted based on their concept proposals.



Source: /www.businesstimes.com.sg

Published October 28, 2010

Another shot at glory for Capitol site


Winning group plans to build iconic hotel, theatre, retail and residential development at landmark site

By KALPANA RASHIWALA

(SINGAPORE) The landmark site that includes Capitol Theatre, Capitol Building and Stamford House is ready for a makeover. It has been awarded to a partnership comprising a syndicate of investors arranged by Pua Seck Guan's Perennial Real Estate, Kwee Liong Seen's Chesham Properties, and Sukmawati Widjaja's Top Global group for $250 million or $460.93 per square foot per plot ratio.


The winning bid was the highest price offered among three tenderers whose concept proposals were shortlisted from the initial list of 14 submitted to the Urban Redevelopment Authority on Aug 18.

The group that won the tender is expected to invest about $700 million in total (including land price) to transform the site into an iconic hotel, theatre, retail and residential development. The group is allocating about half of the 542,382 sq ft maximum gross floor area to retail and entertainment use, with 25 per cent each for hotel and residential use.

'The project, including the hotel, will retain the name Capitol, as it has a lot of history and can rival The Raffles Hotel,' said Perennial CEO Mr Pua. 'We intend to restore the glory of Capitol - a brand name familiar to many Singaporeans. Historically, the location was famous for Capitol Theatre; but there was also a vibrant retail trade along High Street and there were city apartments.'

US-based architectural firm Richard Meier & Partners will work with Architects 61 of Singapore to design the project.

Capitol Theatre, Capitol Building and Stamford House will be conserved and restored while Capitol Centre will be torn down to make way for a new 15-storey building that will also have four basements. Basements 3 and 4 will be for car parking while Basements 2 to Level 2 will be for retail. Above that will be about 80 apartments of about 1,066 sq ft to 2,368 sq ft, which will be sold to help part finance the development.

A five-star hotel with over 200 rooms will be housed on the second to fourth levels of the four-storey Capitol Building and Stamford House.

Capitol Theatre will be transformed into a single-screen cinema with the largest seating capacity in Singapore (some 800 to 1,000 seats) to be operated by Golden Village for most of the year. The building will also alternate as a performance venue for in-residence theatre groups for the rest of the time.

It will be a choice venue for red carpet movie premiers and film festivals.

There will be concept retail stores for international brands on the ground level of Capitol Building while the ground level of Stamford House will feature signature restaurants related to the hotel operator.

The existing street between Capitol Theatre and Stamford House/Capitol Building will be transformed into a pedestrianised, glass-covered galleria lined with F&B outlets. The galleria and the sheltered civic plaza will provide pedestrian connectivity throughout the Capitol site and with the surroundings. There will be an underground link to City Hall MRT Station

'We've some names in mind for the hotel operator. Our partners also own hotels managed by external parties,' Mr Pua said, referring to Mr Kwee, who is one of the four brothers who control the Pontiac Group in Singapore, which owns luxury hotels such as The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore, and The Regent Singapore.

Ms Widjaja, sister of tycoon Oei Hong Leong, also owns hotels in Indonesia and China.

'We intend to complete the project in about three to four years,' Mr Pua said. URA has given the group up to eight years to complete the project.

URA said that the concept proposal from the successful tenderer offers a high quality development with an attractive mix of uses and 'befitting of its prominent location within the Civic District and its rich architectural heritage'.

Under the dual-envelope tender system for the sale of this site, the 14 tenderers were required to submit their concept proposals and tender prices in two separate envelopes. At the first stage, only the concept proposals were evaluated against a set of pre-stated criteria. Those who met the mark proceeded to the second stage, where the price envelopes of the short-listed bidders were opened and the site awarded to the tenderer with the highest bid price among them.

The other two short-listed tenderers were CapitaMalls Asia and its parent CapitaLand (with a bid of $238.2 million) and a consortium that included private equity group GAW Capital Partners ($130.1 million).

BT understands that the winning bid of $250 million was not the highest price among the 14 submissions.

The top price offer is believed to have crossed the $400 million mark and market watchers say the scheme would probably have involved a more substantial residential component for sale.


Published October 28, 2010

Another shot at glory for Capitol site
Winning group plans to build iconic hotel, theatre, retail and residential development at landmark site


By KALPANA RASHIWALA


(SINGAPORE) The landmark site that includes Capitol Theatre, Capitol Building and Stamford House is ready for a makeover. It has been awarded to a partnership comprising a syndicate of investors arranged by Pua Seck Guan's Perennial Real Estate, Kwee Liong Seen's Chesham Properties, and Sukmawati Widjaja's Top Global group for $250 million or $460.93 per square foot per plot ratio.

The winning bid was the highest price offered among three tenderers whose concept proposals were shortlisted from the initial list of 14 submitted to the Urban Redevelopment Authority on Aug 18.

The group that won the tender is expected to invest about $700 million in total (including land price) to transform the site into an iconic hotel, theatre, retail and residential development. The group is allocating about half of the 542,382 sq ft maximum gross floor area to retail and entertainment use, with 25 per cent each for hotel and residential use.

'The project, including the hotel, will retain the name Capitol, as it has a lot of history and can rival The Raffles Hotel,' said Perennial CEO Mr Pua. 'We intend to restore the glory of Capitol - a brand name familiar to many Singaporeans. Historically, the location was famous for Capitol Theatre; but there was also a vibrant retail trade along High Street and there were city apartments.'

US-based architectural firm Richard Meier & Partners will work with Architects 61 of Singapore to design the project.

Capitol Theatre, Capitol Building and Stamford House will be conserved and restored while Capitol Centre will be torn down to make way for a new 15-storey building that will also have four basements. Basements 3 and 4 will be for car parking while Basements 2 to Level 2 will be for retail. Above that will be about 80 apartments of about 1,066 sq ft to 2,368 sq ft, which will be sold to help part finance the development.

A five-star hotel with over 200 rooms will be housed on the second to fourth levels of the four-storey Capitol Building and Stamford House.

Capitol Theatre will be transformed into a single-screen cinema with the largest seating capacity in Singapore (some 800 to 1,000 seats) to be operated by Golden Village for most of the year. The building will also alternate as a performance venue for in-residence theatre groups for the rest of the time.

It will be a choice venue for red carpet movie premiers and film festivals.

There will be concept retail stores for international brands on the ground level of Capitol Building while the ground level of Stamford House will feature signature restaurants related to the hotel operator.

The existing street between Capitol Theatre and Stamford House/Capitol Building will be transformed into a pedestrianised, glass-covered galleria lined with F&B outlets. The galleria and the sheltered civic plaza will provide pedestrian connectivity throughout the Capitol site and with the surroundings. There will be an underground link to City Hall MRT Station

'We've some names in mind for the hotel operator. Our partners also own hotels managed by external parties,' Mr Pua said, referring to Mr Kwee, who is one of the four brothers who control the Pontiac Group in Singapore, which owns luxury hotels such as The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore, and The Regent Singapore.

Ms Widjaja, sister of tycoon Oei Hong Leong, also owns hotels in Indonesia and China.

'We intend to complete the project in about three to four years,' Mr Pua said. URA has given the group up to eight years to complete the project.

URA said that the concept proposal from the successful tenderer offers a high quality development with an attractive mix of uses and 'befitting of its prominent location within the Civic District and its rich architectural heritage'.

Under the dual-envelope tender system for the sale of this site, the 14 tenderers were required to submit their concept proposals and tender prices in two separate envelopes. At the first stage, only the concept proposals were evaluated against a set of pre-stated criteria. Those who met the mark proceeded to the second stage, where the price envelopes of the short-listed bidders were opened and the site awarded to the tenderer with the highest bid price among them.

The other two short-listed tenderers were CapitaMalls Asia and its parent CapitaLand (with a bid of $238.2 million) and a consortium that included private equity group GAW Capital Partners ($130.1 million).

BT understands that the winning bid of $250 million was not the highest price among the 14 submissions.

The top price offer is believed to have crossed the $400 million mark and market watchers say the scheme would probably have involved a more substantial residential component for sale.


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