【新】Chip Eng Seng tops bid for Yishun mixed-use site

The tender for a mixed-use commercial and residential site located at the junction of Yishun Ring Road and Yishun Avenue 9 closed on Jan 24 with 13 bids received. The highest bid of $212.1 million or $794 psf per plot ratio (ppr) came from CEL Property, a unit of listed construction group, Chip Eng Seng.
This is considered the first private residential project in the proximity of Yishun MRT station. The land area of the 99-year leasehold site is 95,351 sq ft, with a maximum gross floor area (GFA) of 266,982 sq ft. Chip Eng Seng is proposing to develop a condominium project with a mix of studio, and one- to four-bedroom apartments, as well as a two- to three-level retail podium on the site, according to a statement submitted on SGX.
As Northpoint is the only shopping mall in the area, “the level of interest was within expectation,” says Desmond Sim, associate director of CBRE Research. He sees the site as “a pre-cursor” to the next mixed-use site to be launched for sale in June, and located at the current Yishun Bus Interchange. So far, mixed-use sites like The Hillier, The Greenwich and Bedok Residences have enjoyed success.
CBRE’s Sim estimates the selling price of new residential units on the Yishun Ring Road site to be around $900 psf. While Chip Eng Seng hasn’t announced whether it has plans to sub-divide the commercial podium into strata-titled shop or F&B units for sale, based on its bid price for the land, CBRE’s Sim reckons that such units could fetch around $3,000 psf to $4,000 psf.
Incidentally, on Monday [Jan 21], CEL Development launched Alexandra Central, and successfully sold 114 of a total of 116 strata shop and F&B units on its first day of public preview at prices in the range of $5,000 psf to $8,000 psf. Alexandra Central is a mixed-use project with a 450-hotel sitting on a three-storey commercial podium.