Vista Park eyes $350m in collective sale tender

Collective sale fever has gone through the roof this week with Vista Park condominium launching a tender yesterday, joining four other candidates trying to sell en bloc in recent days.

Vista Park owners are eyeing at least $350 million, which means each unit owner could pocket $1.16 million to $3.5 million - a premium of over 60 per cent to what they could otherwise fetch by selling individually in the open market.

Two other condos - Brookvale Park and Kismis View - could soon join the rush, having achieved the 80 per cent requisite approval from owners.

Vista Park’s immediate surroundings are a key selling point.

Vista Park is at the edge of Kent Ridge Park and faces the sea. Set in lush greenery, the site offers the prospect of a nature and wellness themed residential development. It is about a seven-minute walk from Pasir Panjang MRT station.

Including the estimated lease top-up premium of about $66 million, the land rate is estimated to be $932 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr), which can be pared down to about $903 psf ppr after factoring in the bonus balcony gross floor area (GFA). This compares favourably with the land rate of $969 psf ppr transacted for Normanton Park estate near Kent Ridge Park.

Vista Park spans 319,250 sq ft and has about 61 years left on its lease. The site has a plot ratio of 1.4 and allowable height of up to five storeys, translating to a potential GFA of about 446,951 sq ft.

This could yield around 530 apartments of about 800 sq ft per unit for the new residential development, subject to approval.

Separately, owners of freehold Spanish Village off Farrer Road kick-started the process of selling en bloc with the formation of its collective sale committee last Saturday and are now appointing a marketing agent.

The potential asking price for the 226-unit estate is above $810 million, said committee chairman Chiu Jia Yu.

This is lower than its reserve price of $839 million in its 2007 attempt and $825 million in the 2011 bid.

A sale value of $810 million would translate to a land rate of $1,575 psf ppr, after factoring in an estimated development charge of $24 million.

Consultants are expecting about 700 new units to be built on the 30,793 sq m site given its plot ratio of 1.6, Mr Chiu said, adding that there are very few such sizeable freehold sites available.

Some market watchers felt that the estimated land rate for Spanish Village is rich compared with nearby freehold Tulip Garden, which is more advanced in the collective sale process as it is now garnering signatures from owners. Its reserve price of $688 million translates to a land rate of $1,358 psf ppr.

Elsewhere in Tiong Bahru, owners of Central Green condominium have formed a sales committee for the collective sale of the 412-unit development.

Four other tenders for collective sale were launched on Wednesday: Pearlbank Apartments, Parkway Mansion, Derby Court and Riviera Point.

Adapted from: The Straits Times, 17 November 2017