Railway lands could be developer’s goldmine
- Wednesday, May 26, 2010, 14:52
- Singapore
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SINGAPORE – Property experts have hailed the move – announced yesterday – to relocate the railway station from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands in the north as timely.
Singapore has plans to re-develop the Tanjong Pagar area into a new waterfront city, while Woodlands is set to become more vibrant when the station moves there.
The Tanjong Pagar site is zoned for commercial use, but this could change to include residential units, said property firm Cushman and Wakefield’s managing director, Mr Donald Han.
“For a high-rise development, with a gross floor area of over a million square feet and plot ratio of 4.2, we estimate the value to be about $650 million to $700 million,” he said.
The price per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) would be about $600 to $650 psf ppr, he added.
Mr Han said that the value could potentially increase by about 25 to 30 per cent if the land is allowed to be converted for residential use.
The current railway station site in the southern part of Singapore is on prime land – it is near the city centre and shopping mall VivoCity.
Its attraction is its size, which spans about five football fields. But development of residential units, if allowed, will likely take shape only in 2015 or 2016.
Meanwhile, the newly-available land in Woodlands can be commercially developed.
Its value will also increase with a mall and busy traffic, said Mr Colin Tan, head of research and consultancy at Chesterton Suntec International.
Mr Han said: “Right now, if you go into Woodlands, there is only the Causeway Bay shopping mall … There are not many activities that are coming up.
“If you look at the potential relocation of the KTM, if it allows an integrated development to be located there … it will certainly help to increase land values and existing property values in the area.”
Three parcels of land in Tanjong Pagar, Kranji and Woodlands and another three pieces of land in Bukit Timah will be available for development when the train station moves to Woodlands train checkpoint by July 1 next year.
