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Marina Bay views: URA puts mixed-use site near CBD, set to yield 905 homes, on sale for at least S$1.508b

SINGAPORE — A land parcel at Marina View, with a minimum price of S$1.508 billion, is expected to draw strong interest from property developers looking to add to the area’s limited supply of new homes. This is because more property buyers are attracted to the prospect of living in the Central Business District (CBD), property consultants said.

A land parcel along Marina View (pictured), which is near the upcoming Shenton Way MRT Station.

A land parcel along Marina View (pictured), which is near the upcoming Shenton Way MRT Station.

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  • URA launched a 7,800-sqm site that is set to yield 905 residential units and 540 hotel rooms
  • Property analysts said the site is in line with the Government's initiative to have more people live within CBD
  • Covid-19 has also made more people open to the idea of living in the city centre

 

SINGAPORE — A land parcel at Marina View, with a minimum price of S$1.508 billion, is expected to draw strong interest from property developers looking to add to the area’s limited supply of new homes. This is because more property buyers are attracted to the prospect of living in the Central Business District (CBD), property consultants said.

The mixed-use site, near the upcoming Shenton Way MRT Station, is set to yield 905 homes and 540 hotel rooms, with some office and other commercial use also permitted. It was put on the market by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Monday (June 28).

URA said that the envisioned high-rise development would give some residents views of Marina Bay.

Property consultants who spoke to TODAY said that with more people living in the city centre, the area will be more vibrant on weekends and after working hours, which is in line with the Government’s plans to rejuvenate the CBD area.

The site area is about 7,800 sqm, which is about the size of a football field. The maximum floor area is 101,629 sqm, of which at least 51,000 sqm must be used for homes while 26,000 sqm must be for hotel rooms or hotel-related use, URA said.

Images illustrating the potential lifestyle on offer at the envisioned development. Source: Urban Redevelopment Authority

A maximum of 2,000 sqm may be used for commercial use and up to 2,000sqm may be used as office space, URA added.

As well as being beside Shenton Way MRT Station on the Thomson-East Coast Line, which is still under construction, the site is also near Marina Bay, Downtown and Tanjong Pagar MRT stations.

Hawker centre Lau Pa Sat and several office buildings in the area, including Capital Tower and Marina Bay Financial Centre, are within 1km of the site.

URA announced that the site had been put to tender, closing Sept 21, after an unnamed developer had committed a bid price of no less than S$1.508 billion.

The site was on the authority's reserve list for the first half of this year. Such sites are put to tender only after a developer commits to a price acceptable to URA.

DEMAND EXPECTED TO BE STRONG

Property analysts told TODAY that developers would be interested in this site because more people have been warming up to the idea of buying a home in the CBD area, where there is a relatively limited supply of residential units.

Mr Steven Tan, chief executive officer of real estate agency OrangeTee & Tie, said that other residential projects situated in the Downtown Core, such as Midtown Modern and The M, have seen healthy take-up rates.

“It seems like more Singaporeans are more receptive to living in the city,” he said. “They can live near their workplace and they can enjoy the convenience and lifestyle in the city area.”

The hefty sum for the minimum bid should not come as a surprise either, given the large amount of floor space available and the site’s location right in the city centre. Other developments in this prime district have also fetched large sums.

Ms Wong Siew Ying, head of research and content at Propnex Realty, said that a site at the Marina Bay area worth S$2.57 billion was awarded in 2016 to the IOI Properties Group, for an office-retail development.

Compared to the Central Boulevard site, Ms Wong said that developers may be more interested in the Marina View plot because “it gives them the opportunity to capitalise on the relatively limited supply of residential units in this prime location”.

She expects about five to eight bids for the site, with the winning bid to be as high as S$1.9 billion.

Ms Wong added that the initiative to create more residential and living spaces in town is in line with the Government's CBD incentive scheme.

The scheme was rolled out in 2019 and applies to areas around Anson Road, Cecil Street, Robinson Road, Tanjong Pagar and Shenton Way, where the new site is located, so that the CBD is “not only a place to work, but also a vibrant place to live and play”,  then-National Development Minister Lawrence Wong said.

Agreeing, Mr Nicholas Mak, head of the research and consultancy department at real estate firm ERA Realty, said that the need to get more people living within the CBD was made more apparent during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the office crowd was sapped from the area and working from home became the default for many companies since the semi-lockdown last year.

He said that while there will still be use for offices as collaborative spaces, many companies will be retaining hybrid or work-from-home practices in the wake of the pandemic, which may hurt businesses in the area.

“Work-from-home will be here to stay… The Government wants to have more people living in the downtown area, where there is more life on the weekends and public holidays.”

Asked why the floor area for commercial use has been limited at only 2,000 sqm — about one-third the size of a football field — he said that the demand for commercial spaces in this area will not be high unless more people live in the area, which is what this site will achieve.

“It is a symbiotic relationship between malls and residential areas — if a mall is surrounded by many residents, that mall will do well,” he said.

“But you take a mall out of a residential area and plonk it in the middle of the CBD... the moment there is a lockdown, that mall will suffer.”

Related topics

URA Marina View downtown CBD residential

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