Tuesday, September 12, 2006
[RealEdge] BT : URA hotel site gets $26m bid
| Published September 12, 2006  | |
| URA hotel site gets $26m bid
By ARTHUR SIM
THE second hotel site launched by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for sale this year has received a bid of $26 million from an unnamed developer. This comes just weeks after Hong Kong's Park Hotel Group paid more than double the reserve price for a nearby URA hotel site at Unity Street. The site, at Mohamed Sultan Road, has a maximum gross floor area of 88,372 sq ft. It will now be put up for public tender. The committed bid of $26 million works out at about $294 psf per plot ratio - 40 per cent higher than previous reserve price for the Unity Street site set in June. That site sold for $55.5 million or $466 psf per plot ratio in August. David Ling, managing director of hospitality consultants HVS International, says he doesn't expect a similarly high price for the less-prominent Mohamed Sultan site. He noted that apart from the top two bids for the Unity Street site, most of the bids ranged between $245 and $300 psf per plot ratio. 'The Park Hotel Group bid was a very aggressive bid,' he said. Mr Ling believes that the site could interest investors hoping to pitch a new hotel at the three-to-four- This range of prices firmly puts any new hotel there in the mid-tier range and Mr Ling believes this is what the government wants. 'Future growth in the tourism industry will be fuelled by regional arrivals,' he said, adding that these are travellers who will not necessarily want to spend money on a deluxe hotel. Mr Ling said that this also explains why the recent hotel sites that have been put on URA's reserve list have not been in prime areas. 'For a prime hotel site, the most viable option, because of the land cost, is to build a five-star hotel,' he said. Chee Hok Yean, executive vice-president and head of advisory (Asia) at Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, believes potential bidders could include Far East Organization, which put in the second highest bid for the Unity Street site. But she notes: 'It would seem foreign investors are more likely to bid high.' She said these investors could include investment funds. 'They can always do a tie-up with a local partner,' she added. |
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
__,_._,___
