www.shaproperty.com

FRASERS Centrepoint Ltd is going ahead with the development of an extension to Northpoint Shopping Centre in Yishun. The company sold the mall earlier this year to Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT), which was listed on the Singapore Exchange in July.

Coming up: The Northpoint extension will add about 80,000 sq ft of net lettable area, estimated to be worth $138.2 million

And the mall extension, slated for completion in late 2008, will also be offered for sale to the trust.

The extension will add about 80,000 sq ft of net lettable area, and industry observers reckon that based on the $1,728 psf at which Northpoint was injected into FCT, the extension would be worth $138.2 million.

Of course, the extension could be worth more when it's completed, if capital values of suburban malls continue to appreciate over the next two years.

Frasers Centrepoint chief executive Lim Ee Seng said that Architects 61 is working on 'several attractive options' to integrate the new buiding with Northpoint mall.

Christopher Tang, CEO of Frasers Centrepoint Asset Management Ltd, the manager of FCT, said: 'This new building will take us a step closer to achieving our objective of doubling FCT's asset portfolio within the next three years.

'The enlargement of Northpoint Shopping Centre from 144,000 sq ft to 224,000 sq ft will reinforce the current dominance of the mall in Yishun New Town.'

The extension will be built on a 44,000 sq ft site that Frasers Centrepoint bought from the Singapore Land Authority.

The developer will have to set aside 21,528 sq ft out of the extension's total gross floor area of 129,167 sq ft for the National Library Board.

FCT's initial portfolio comprises three malls - Causeway Point in Woodlands, Northpoint in Yishun and Anchorpoint in Alexandra Road - with a total net lettable area of about 640,500 sq ft, worth $915.2 million as at Dec 31, 2005.