BTO: Kaki Bukit CarMart site available for application

Business Times - 28 May 2009

Kaki Bukit CarMart site available for application

By KALPANA RASHIWALA

 

THE Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday made available for application a 30-year leasehold industrial site next to Ruby Warehouse Complex at Kaki Bukit Road 2 on the government's reserve list.

 

The property is expected to generate a fair amount of interest given its location in a mature industrial estate and low capital outlay involved, says Colliers International director (industrial) Tan Boon Leong.

 

The 1.07-hectare plot is currently occupied by Kaki Bukit CarMart but its operator will return the site to the state when its current Temporary Occupation Licence expires at the end of this month.

 

Colliers's Mr Tan reckons that likely parties that may trigger the site's release for tender could include contractors/develo- pers, car dealers and workshop owners, and those involved in the logistics, hardware, marine and oil and gas industries.

 

Being on the reserve list, the site will be launched for tender only upon successful application by a developer with an undertaking to place a minimum bid acceptable to the state.

 

URA noted on its website that the plot is located within the established Kaki Bukit Industrial Estate and next to the industrial estates at Kampong Ubi and Eunos Techpark.

 

Prominent uses in the vicinity include warehousing and automobile industries. Surrounding developments include Gordon Warehouse, Borneo Motor and Kah Motor.

 

Mr Tan reckons that the site could be released for tender if interested parties undertake to bid at least $40 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), although the actual tender for the property could see top bids of $50-70 psf ppr.

 

Even at the higher end of that range ($70 psf ppr), the investment in the site - which has a 1.0 plot ratio (or ratio of maximum potential GFA to land area) - will amount to around $8 million, making the site affordable to a bigger pool of potential investors.

 

The plot is zoned for Business 2 use, suitable for a range of uses such as clean/light industry, general industry and warehousing.

 

Two years ago, when the industrial property market was buoyant, a site along Kaki Bukit Road 3, a 30-year leasehold plot with Business 1 zoning, fetched $71.86 psf ppr.

 

Separately, the Singapore Land Authority yesterday announced the successful auction of a two-hectare site at 20 Eunos Road 4 for use as a heavy vehicle park. The successful bidder is Lim Chai Kiui, the 62-year-old chairman of Kim Soon Lee group, which currently operates the existing heavy vehicle park on the site.

 

Based on his winning bid at yesterday's auction, he will pay SLA a monthly sum of $63,000 - which works out to about 29 cents per square foot of site area. The plot was offered for tenancy on a three-year term with an option to renew for a further two years.