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COLLECTIVE sales activity continues in Singapore's prime districts. Soilbuild Group Holdings has bought Furama Tower at Leonie Hill Road for $76 million or $872 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) including an estimated development charge (DC) of $6.6 million.

Freehold sites: Buyer Soilbuild says the Furama Tower site can be redeveloped into a new condo of 45-50 units. Market watchers say St Martin's Lodge (above) should appeal to boutique developers

Over at St Martin's Drive, St Martin's Lodge has been put up for en bloc sale. The owners' asking price of $30 million for the 19,335 sq ft freehold site works out to $1,182 psf ppr including an estimated $2 million DC.

Both properties are freehold.

Soilbuild's purchase price for Furama Tower is close to the $880 psf ppr that Koh Brothers and Heeton paid in April this year for the nearby Hilton Towers at Leonie Hill.

Market watchers say the prices achieved for Furama Tower and Hilton Towers will serve to benchmark prices that developers are likely to pay for the collective sales of nearby properties like Futura, Grangeford Apartment and Horizon Towers. 'Of course, adjustments will have to be made for some factors like differing land areas of the respective properties. One could argue that the bigger sites have the potential to be redeveloped into condos with full facilities and hence, should command a premium over smallish plots,' a property consultant suggested.

Furama Tower has a freehold land area of 33,821 sq ft and is zoned for residential use with a 2.8 plot ratio (ratio of potential maximum gross floor area to land area).

Colliers International, which handled the sale of Furama Tower, said owners of the 33 units in the existing development will receive sums ranging from $1.75 million to $2.78 million per apartment unit while the sole penthouse owner will pocket $4.64 million. These sums are nearly 100 per cent more than the owners would have received had their units been sold one by one.

Buyer Soilbuild says the Furama Tower site can be redeveloped into a new condo of 45 to 50 units. Development of the site and the marketing launch are expected to be next year. Soilbuild's pipeline of residential projects include the soon-to-be completed Cliften off Bukit Timah Road and the recently launched One Tree Hill Residence off Grange Road. Others include the Bright Apartments plot in Novena, a site at Cashew Road bought in May this year and various sites at Minbu/Martaban roads purchased last month.

Market watchers say the smallish land area of the freehold St Martin's Lodge, which is being marketed by CB Richard Ellis, should make the site appealing to boutique developers. The site is next to an old bungalow that BBR Holdings group bought earlier this year.

Garden Estates, part of Singapore's Hong Leong Group, developed the 12-unit St Martin's Lodge, which was completed only in 1994. The site is zoned for residential use with a 1.4 plot ratio and a maximum height of five storeys.