OCBC, Pastoral View owners sell sites together

OCBC, which has owned a site at 11 Bassein Road in the Novena area since the 1940s, has teamed up with the owners of Pastoral View next door who are doing a collective sale, to sell the two properties together.

Both Pastoral View, which is at 7 Bassein Road, and OCBC's site, at 11 Bassein Road, are freehold.

'The sellers are expecting offers in the region of $130-150 million. This translates to a land rate of $904-1,043 per sq ft per plot ratio, after factoring in a marginal development charge of about $157,000 payable for No. 11 Bassein Road, to redevelop the site up to a 2.8 gross plot ratio. No DC is payable for Pastoral View,' said Tan Hong Boon, deputy managing director at Credo Real Estate, which is marketing the two properties.

More than 80 per cent of owners by share value and strata floor area at the 50-unit Pastoral View have signed a collective sale agreement. OCBC's next door property is an empty site.

The two sites have a combined land area of 51,395 sq ft and can be developed into a new condo with a gross floor area of 143,906 sq ft. This allows for a 36-storey project with 140 apartments of average size of 1,000 sq ft.

The site is zoned for residential use with a 2.8 plot ratio under Master Plan 2008.

Interested parties can bid for one or both sites.

'We believe developers would find the enlarged site more attractive because it would offer economies of scale and broaden their offering,' said Mr Tan.

There will be space for the winning developer to build a showflat before Pastoral View residents move out, Mr Tan said. This means that the developer can market the new project earlier, reducing holding costs and market risks.

Novena is home to office and retail blocks such as United Square, and hospitals such as Tan Tock Seng.

Credo believes that the new residential project will attract medical professionals and medical tourists.

Near Pastoral View, units at D'Ixoras have changed hands at more than $1,240 psf in the past two months, based on caveats lodged.

Source: Business Times, 27 Jul 2010