BT: Tulip Garden sold for $516 million - 20 Jul 07

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July 20, 2007
PROPERTY FOCUS
Tulip Garden sold for $516 million
By KALPANA RASHIWALA

TULIP Garden in the Holland Road area has been sold for $516 million
or about $1,018 per square foot of potential gross floor area. No
development charge is payable on the site.

The buyer is a unit of Bravo Building Construction, a five-year-old
construction and property development business. Bravo is expected to
team up with a local private equity partner for the acquisition.

Bravo's breakeven cost for a new condo on the 316,709 sq ft site is
estimated at around $1,500 psf, the company's managing director Jenny
Pang told BT. 'We plan to develop the site into a new luxury condo
with about 290 to 316 apartments with sizes ranging from 1,600 to
2,000 sq ft.'

'Under the current scenario, a new 12-storey project on the site
would be able to sell at $2,000 psf average,' Ms Pang added. The
project should be launch-ready around Q2 next year.

Savills (Singapore) brokered the collective sale of Tulip Garden
through private treaty after the tender for the site closed on June
12.

The $1,018 psf per plot ratio fetched for the freehold Tulip Garden
is in line with recent land transactions in the area. In April, the
nearby Leedon Heights, also freehold, was sold for $1,062 psf per
plot ratio. Market watchers regard Leedon to be a superior site as it
is in a quieter location away from the main road and boasts unblocked
views of good class bungalows.

Late last month, the leasehold Farrer Court was sold for $762-783 psf
ppr. The Farrer Court site has a higher plot ratio of 2.8 and maximum
height of 36 storeys, compared with Tulip Garden and Leedon Heights,
with a 1.6 plot ratio and 12-storey maximum height.

Tulip Garden currently has 164 units comprising 96 apartments, 66
maisonettes and two shophouses. Their owners will receive proceeds of
$2.5 million to $4.2 million per apartment, $3.4 million to $3.5
million per maisonette, and $1.1 million per shop unit.

In June this year, a maisonette in the development changed hands at
$3.4 million. The seller had consented to the collective sale, and BT
understands from Savills that the collective sale agreement (CSA)
requires the new owner to also sign the CSA at the agreed reserve
price.

The new owner is expected to receive 'marginally more' from the en-
bloc sale than the sum he paid for, according to Savills director of
investment sales Steven Ming.

Another maisonette in the development was sold in May for $2.48
million.

The sale of Tulip Garden is subject to approval from the Strata
Titles Board. To date, owners controlling more than 80 per cent of
share values in the development have signed the collective sale
agreement.

Earlier this month, Bravo Building Construction purchased the
freehold Pender Court - off West Coast Highway and near the Caribbean
and Reflections at Keppel Bay condos - for $80 million or about $872
psf ppr. The company has bought more than a dozen sites in Singapore
since September last year. These include Castle Court at Changi Road,
Regent Court in Serangoon, and Koon Seng House in the Still Road area.