Six more months for Pearl Bank to get owners’ nod for conservation

SINGAPORE — The iconic Pearl Bank Apartments has received a six-month extension to garner 100 per cent support from owners for its conservation bid, but the development’s liaison committee is holding on to hopes that its appeal for a lower consent requirement will be granted.

With the extension, the committee now has until April 30 instead of ­Oct 31 to convince the remaining 28 households that have not yet agreed to the proposal. That represents less than 10 per cent of the ­total 288 units in the horseshoe-shaped residential building.

Liaison committee member Liu Meng Wong said today (Oct 22) that among the remaining homeowners who have yet to consent are elderly residents who are “not in the capacity to sign anything” but have not transferred their power of attorney to others. Some of them are also foreigners who have left Singapore.

“There’s another group whom we are discussing with. They are asking us for more details so we are hoping to convince them to support this project. Some owners are not taking to the idea of a new block, so we are still talking to them. The door is still open and we’ll try to convince everybody,” said Mr Liu at a press conference held at the communal hall of Pearl Bank Apartments.

Besides conservation status for the building, homeowners hope to get ­approval for additional gross floor area (GFA) to develop another, similarly-shaped block above its current carpark podium to accommodate new dwelling units. This GFA can be sold to a developer, with the money used to fund the estimated S$28 million refurbishment works for the current building.

Mr Tan Cheng Siong, chairman and principal partner of Archurban Architects Planners, said he received the written extension note from URA on Monday evening. Mr Tan is the architect behind Pearl Bank Apartments and has come on board to ­assist with its conservation and redevelopment proposals.

Chairman of the liaison committee Lee Seng Teik said that prior to receiving URA’s note, the committee had appealed to the Ministry of ­National Development to have the ­approval criterion lowered to 80 per cent of homeowner consent — on a par with the requirement for en-bloc sales.

“In our minds, it is not fair to the majority of the residents of Pearl Bank who have come forward to really support the project. We think that the ­en-bloc requirement of 80 per cent should apply to our voluntary conservation project. We’re proposing to conserve this building for posterity, for future generations of Singa­poreans to enjoy,” said Dr Lee.

He added that estimates showed that the value of homes will likely double from the current S$900 per square foot after the rejuvenation and redevelopment project is completed. A URA spokesperson said in response to media queries that it welcomes the ground-up initiative and is prepared to support the ­additional GFA, which Dr Lee and Mr Tan said is up to 15 per cent of the current GFA.

As the proposal affects the ­entire ­development, URA said “it is necessary for all subsidiary proprietors to agree”.

“The committee has sought clarification on the 100 per cent consent requirement and appealed for the ­requirement to be lowered. The ­appeal is being reviewed carefully by various agencies with regard to legal requirements and the implications on strata titles and share values. In the meantime, we have given them more time to seek more votes from residents,” the spokesperson added.