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Business Times - 28 Sep 2007

Collective sale site flipped for 100% profit

Bought for $73m one year back, Emerald Mansion site sold for $148m

By KALPANA RASHIWALA

(SINGAPORE) The Cheong family, which bought Emerald Mansion through a collective sale last year for $73 million or $931 psf per plot ratio, recently sold the District 9 freehold property for double that amount, or around $148 million or $1,888 psf ppr, sources say.

The unit land price of $1,888 psf ppr is a new high for residential land in the Cairnhill area, surpassing the $1,788 psf ppr that Char Yong Gardens fetched in June this year.

BT understands that the new buyer of Emerald Mansion is a joint venture comprising a property fund managed by LaSalle Investment Management, and a local contractor - with the latter taking a minority stake.

No development charge is payable for the 29,810 sq ft site, which can be redeveloped up to its current gross floor area of 78,401 sq ft, which reflects a plot ratio of about 2.63. This is higher than the 2.1 plot ratio indicated for the site under Master Plan 2003.

BT understands that the original collective sale to the Cheong family - which has a substantial stake in International Plaza at Anson Road and is related to SC Global chairman and CEO Simon Cheong - was completed just a few months ago.

DTZ Debenham Tie Leung is believed to have brokered the latest sale of Emerald Mansion to the LaSalle Investment Management fund. DTZ declined to comment on the deal.

Based on LaSalle Investment Management's $1,888 psf ppr acquisition cost of Emerald Mansion, the breakeven cost for a new apartment development on the site could be about $2,400 psf, according to market watchers. The site can be developed into around 55 apartments averaging 1,500 sq ft.

The developer of a project on the Emerald Lodge site next door is said to be eyeing an average price of about $3,000 psf in an upcoming launch.

Last month, LaSalle Investment Management clinched a 99-year leasehold commercial plot next to International Plaza at a state tender. Its winning bid of $237.2 million reflects a unit land price of $941 psf ppr.

The real estate money management firm, which is part of the Jones Lang LaSalle group, bid on behalf of its LaSalle Asia Opportunity III Fund, and is planning a 20-storey office development with about 200,000 sq ft net lettable area.

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