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[SINGAPORE] A mixed-use commercial and residential site in Chencharu Close, near the Khatib MRT station, has drawn three bids in a state tender that closed on Thursday (Sep 11).

A consortium comprising the entities of Evia Real Estate, Malaysian group Gamuda and Ho Lee Group placed the top bid of slightly more than S$1.01 billion, which works out to about S$980 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).

This was some 20 per cent above the second-highest bid – of S$845 million or about S$818 psf ppr – from a tie-up among Frasers Property, Mitsubishi Estate and Lum Chang Building Contractors.

The third bid, from Sim Lian Land and Sim Lian Development, was S$692.4 million or S$670 psf ppr.

The provisional tender results released were within the range of expectations of the property consultants polled by The Business Times earlier this week. They had expected the site to draw two to six bids, with the highest bid projected to be in the range of S$800 psf ppr to S$1,200 psf ppr.

The 99-year leasehold plot is expected to yield some 875 private homes. The development will be integrated with a bus interchange and a hawker centre.

It will also include up to 135,625 square feet (sq ft) in gross floor area (GFA) of commercial space that may be used for retail. The commercial component has to be held as a single strata lot; strata subdivision will not be allowed.

Hunger pangs

Evia Real Estate managing partner Vincent Ong said the trio that placed the top bid for the Chencharu Close tender also developed the OLA executive condominium project in Sengkang. “Having completed the OLA project last year, we are now hungry for land.”

Referring to the Chencharu Close site, he added that Evia, Gamuda and Ho Lee are eyeing this “rare site that can be developed into a residential and retail project integrated with a transport hub in a new housing area.” The consortium’s proposed scheme for the Chencharu site includes about 860 apartments and a retail mall at street level and in basement 1, he added. Located in the up-and-coming Chencharu residential area in Yishun town, the 317,000 sq ft site can be developed to a maximum GFA of 1.03 million sq ft; of this, at least 801,986 sq ft – about 78 per cent – will be set aside for residential use.

First-mover advantage

This is the first government land sale (GLS) site with a private housing component to be offered in Chencharu, offering prospects of a first-mover advantage, analysts have said.

The Chencharu Close plot is near a string of schools, including Peiying Primary School, Chung Cheng High School (Yishun), Naval Base Primary and Secondary schools, Orchid Park Secondary School and Yishun Innova Junior College, said PropNex head of research and content Wong Siew Ying.

Also nearby are Khatib Polyclinic, Yishun Stadium and Sport Hall, and Lower Seletar Reservoir Park.

CBRE’s head of research for South-east Asia, Tricia Song, said the most recent comparable commercial and residential site with similar scale and requirements (including a bus interchange and a hawker centre) would be the one in Tampines Avenue 11.

That site received three bids and was awarded in 2023 for S$885 psf ppr to a joint-venture involving UOL, Singapore Land and CapitaLand Development.

The project’s 1,193-unit residential component, Parktown Residence, achieved a robust take-up of 1,041 units or 87 per cent of its units, at an average price of S$2,360 psf during its launch weekend in February 2025.

Knight Frank Singapore research head Leonard Tay said the average selling price for the residences in the future project on the Chencharu Close site “could possibly be above S$2,300 psf”.

Huttons Asia chief executive officer Mark Yip said: “There may be strong upgrading demand from the more than 8,000 Build-To-Order HDB flats in the north, which will have fulfilled the five-year minimum occupation period from 2023.”

PropNex’s Wong noted that there have been no new condo launches near the Chencharu Close site since The Estuary was launched in 2010; The Wisteria, which is slightly further from the site, was put on the market in 2016.

Giving his take, ERA Singapore chief executive officer Marcus Chu said: “The top bid of $980 psf ppr, though below recent land bids in the Outside Central Region, is more reflective of more complex site-specific requirements, including the need to build a hawker centre and bus interchange, when compared to other attractive GLS sites, rather than a broader shift in developer sentiment.”

Evia and Gamuda developed the Gem Residences private condominium project in Toa Payoh.