Developers teamed up to get hotly contested Holland Road site

All bidders except Singhaiyi formed teams of two to three and submitted more than one proposal.

The tender for the hotly contested, mixed-use site on Holland Road closed with 15 submissions from ten bidders. In a report, DBS Equity Research compared the tender to a dance floor as most developers have partnered with each other to bid for the site.

DBS analyst Rachel Tan noted that most bidders came with partners and some submitted more than one proposal. Except Singhaiyi, all the bidders were in teams of two to three developers. The “interesting pairings” were City Developments Limited-RB Capital joint venture, Lendlease-Pontiac Land JV, and Capitaland-Hotel Properties.

The analyst also noted that some bidders submitted two to three proposals for the site. “Far East Consortium was the most aggressive with three submissions whilst three other parties submitted two. Amongst the larger listed developers, Frasers Property Ltd (FPL) did not participate in the tender,” she added.

In a previous report, Cushman & Wakefield’s forecasted the sheer quantum of the site could possibly run into $1b.

C&W research director Christine Li said, "This is because apart from Paya Lebar Quarter and Bidadari GLS site won by SPH and Kajima, there seems to be a lack of sizeable integrated mixed-use development right at the transport node in the pipeline amid an anticipated strong recovery in the residential sector, particularly in the luxury segment of the market."

As the site follows a concept and price revenue tender system, bidders are required to submit their concept proposals and tender prices in two separate envelopes. “The concept proposals will be evaluated first. At the second stage, the price envelopes of acceptable concepts will be opened for consideration. The site will then be awarded to the tenderer with the highest bid price among the acceptable concept proposals,” Tan said.

The site’s total gross floor area (GFA) is 59,715 sqm, of which up to 13,500 sqm is earmarked for retail. At least 60% of total GFA shall be for residential use while the remaining 40% for commercial use.

Tan added, “Medical clinics are part of the retail component and shall not exceed 3,000 sqm GFA or 20% of total GFA for commercial use, whichever is lower. The successful tenderer will have to include elevated pedestrian bridge and vehicular tunnel in the design.”

The residential zone of the site allows for 570 units maximum of the following types: flats, serviced apartments, and/or strata landed houses. Meanwhile, the other zone allows commercial and/or serviced apartment use, with dual office/residential use being considered as commercial GFA.