CHEZ BRIGHT APARTMENT

St Thomas Walk block sold for $54m

July 19, 2007 BUKIT Sembawang Estates has snapped up Chez Bright Apartments at St Thomas Walk in the River Valley area through a collective sale.

The price it is paying is $54 million, or $625 per square foot of potential gross floor area inclusive of an estimated $6.25 million development charge.

The breakeven cost for a new apartment block on the freehold site works out to about $950 to $1,000 psf, say analysts. The owners of the existing 22 units at Chez Bright Apartments stand to get about $2.45 million on average, or 80 per cent more than what their units would have fetched if sold individually, says Jones Lang LaSalle regional director and head of investments Lui Seng Fatt, whose firm brokered the deal.

The 34,402 sq ft site is zoned for residential use with a 2.8 plot ratio. It can be redeveloped into a 36-storey project with about 67 apartments averaging 1,300 sq ft, according to JLL.

Bukit Sembawang Estates last month reported that its net profit for the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2005 surged to $21.8 million from $2.6 million. For the first nine months of its financial year, the property group’s net earnings rose from $7.2 million to $29.4 million.

Chez Bright Apartments is the fourth major property the group has bought after a seven-year hiatus. Last year, it bought Carlton Terrace on Holland Road, Woodleigh Grove and a site at Lengkok Angsa near Paterson Road comprising 32 landed houses.

As for JLL, this is the second collective sale it has sealed in a week. Last week, it announced the sale of Pacific Court in Pasir Panjang for $27.2 million to Far East Organization. The deal was the property giant’s fourth major acquisition since the start of the year – after Amberville, the former Glutton’s Square site, and Angullia Mansion.
Source : Business Times - 8 Mar 2006