Chuan Park sold for $890m in biggest en bloc deal since Tulip Garden

The site, located near Lorong Chuan MRT, can be redeveloped into 900 units. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE – Entities related to developers Kingsford Group and MCC Singapore have raised their offer for leasehold condo Chuan Park to about $890 million, from their expression of interest (EOI) of $860 million in June.

The Straits Times understands a sale and purchase agreement was signed last week with the collective sale committee (CSC) of the 446-unit Chuan Park condo.

The offer price is below its reserve price of $938 million. Representatives of the developers declined comment when contacted on Monday (July 18).

This is potentially the biggest en bloc deal since the collective sale of Tulip Garden for $906.9 million in January 2019.

It also surpassed the $815 million sale of two freehold development land parcels at Thiam Siew Avenue to a Hoi Hup Realty-Sunway Developments joint venture in November 2021.

Sources say Kingsford is land hungry after having fully sold all 1,862 units at Normanton Park as at end June this year – just 18 months since its launch in January 2021.

Kingsford Huray Development had acquired Normanton Park, a former government housing project via collective sale for $830.1 million in 2017.

The main contractor for this new project is MCC Singapore, a subsidiary of China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC Group), a China state-owned enterprise.
Construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of next year.

Huttons Asia chief executive Mark Yip said the $890 million bid “reflects developers’ confidence and ability to sell out within five years”.

ST understands the identity of the developers has not been revealed to most of the condo’s owners, but a meeting will be held on July 25 at 7.30 pm.

According to a July 13 letter to Chuan Park owners seen by ST, the collective sale committee  will give an update “on the percentage of units (by strata area and by share value) that signed the supplemental joint agreement to revise the reserve price to $890 million”.

It will also provide information on events leading to the sale price, estimated timelines for the en bloc sale and terms and conditions of the sale and purchase agreement.

It is unclear how much owners stand to receive under the revised price of $890 million. Marketing agent ERA Realty declined comment on the sale.

ST earlier reported that based on the EOI offer of $860 million, owners stood to receive $1.12 million for a 710 square foot (sq ft) residential unit and about $2.45 million for a 2,045 sq ft unit.

Commercial unit owners could get about $1.05 million for a 474 sq ft unit and $1.94 million for a 1,238 sq ft unit.

Chuan Park was relaunched for sale in March this year at the reserve price of $938 million, and went into private treaty negotiations after the tender closed on April 26.

Prior to that, it was put up for tender from Oct 5 to Nov 18, 2021, just before the latest property cooling measures in December.

At $938 million and with no development charge payable, the land rate, including an upgrading premium of $192.62 million, works out to $1,256 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).

The 37,216 square metre site has a gross plot ratio of 2.1, with a proposed gross floor area (GFA) of 78,153 sq m.

The site, located near Lorong Chuan MRT, can be redeveloped into 900 units.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, eight residential developments were sold en bloc for $1.38 billion from January this year through July 18, compared with four deals totalling just $93 million in the first seven months last year.

Residential en bloc sales so far this year have also surpassed the $1.17 billion worth of sales for the whole of 2021.

Mr Wong Xian Yang, head of research at Cushman & Wakefield, said that developers remain keen to land-bank given low unsold inventory levels, rising home prices and rents.

“But this is balanced by rising development costs and risks due to rising inflation and interest rates,” he added.

“Source:[Chuan Park sold for $890m in biggest en bloc deal since Tulip Garden] © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Permission required for reproduction”

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