SINGAPORE - Roxy Square, a freehold mixed use development in the Katong area, is being put on the market via a collective sale at a minimum asking price of $1.25 billion.
This translates to a land rate of $2,094 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr) for the freehold site, including a land betterment charge (LBC), according to marketing agent JLL.
Developers pay an LBC for the right to enhance the use of some sites or to build bigger projects on them.
Built in three phases from the early 1980s to 2000, Roxy Square comprises Roxy Square Shopping Centre, which has 296 shops and 26 apartments located above the mall, and Grand Mercure Roxy hotel, which has 576 rooms.
Owners of the retail shops stand to get proceeds ranging from $579,000 to $19.9 million each, while residential owners stand to receive between $1.55 million and $2.77 million each, a JLL spokesperson told The Straits Times.
Roxy-Pacific Holdings owns 52 retail shops in Roxy Square Shopping Centre, as well as the Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy, which is self-managed under a franchise agreement with international hotel operator Accor Group, according to the property developer’s website.
JLL declined to comment on the amount of proceeds Roxy-Pacific stands to get from the collective sale of its retail shops and the hotel. The Straits Times has approached Roxy-Pacific for comment.
Under the 2019 Master Plan by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the site, which has a gross floor area of 668,000 sq ft, is currently zoned for commercial and residential use as well as hotel use. But the entire site may be rezoned for commercial and residential use and redeveloped into a high-rise mixed development.
Subject to the URA’s approval, the future project can potentially include more than 350 residential units and about 80,000 sq ft of retail space and food and beverage space.
The remaining gross floor area of about 172,000 sq ft can be set aside for office, hotel, or other commercial uses.
The tender closes on Sept 26.
“We have observed an increasing popularity with home buyers in recent years for mixed residential and commercial developments. In the Katong area, there are currently no comparable mixed-used sites to Roxy Square available for redevelopment,” said Mr Tan Hong Boon, executive director of capital markets at JLL Singapore.
Located near Marine Parade MRT station, the future Roxy Square project may have a direct connection to the station concourse, linking it to an underground pedestrian network with retail shops.
“There are many success stories of developers achieving premium prices for such mixed-use projects, especially those that (have) an MRT station or even a bus interchange integrated into the site,” Mr Tan said.
On why more owners of mixed-use developments appear to be trying their luck now, Cushman & Wakefield head of research Wong Xian Yang noted that the successful sales of Delfi Orchard and Shenton House could have spurred interest in the commercial collective sale market.
In the mixed-use property sector, Delfi Orchard, which sold for $439 million, was the largest collective sale during the second quarter of 2024.
In November 2023, Shenton House in the Central Business District was sold to IOI Properties Group for $538 million.
In May, Katong Plaza, which has 132 retail units and 14 residential apartments, was launched for collective sale at $188 million. This translates to a land rate of $1,901 psf ppr, including a land betterment charge of about $6 million, according to marketing agent Huttons Asia.
The freehold site, now zoned for commercial and residential use, has been granted outline permission from the URA to convert it for hotel use. The tender for Katong Plaza closes on July 25.
High Street Centre at 1 North Bridge Road has received an offer of under $700 million, more than 6 per cent below its reserve price of $748 million, after its collective sale tender closed on June 24.
The owners are now collecting signatures to get an 80 per cent mandate to cut the reserve price.
The URA will support the development of at least 60 per cent of the site’s 466,085 sq ft of gross floor area for commercial use. This may comprise a mix of office and retail, including food and beverage.
Some 40 per cent may be allocated for the redevelopment of a hotel of about 450 keys, or for residential or serviced apartment use, according to marketing agent Cushman & Wakefield.
