City Developments Limited (CDL) has purchased Seedevi, a freehold residential site at Evelyn Road off Newton Road for $44.6 million. The purchase of Seedevi is seen as a strategic move by CDL as the site is adjacent to two of its recently acquired plots, Ixora Court and Newton Point, creating an amalgamated development site of more than 115,000 sq ft.
At a plot ratio of 2.8, the combined site could be developed into a luxurious 30-storey condominium with proposed gross floor area of 322,000 sq ft, or about 210 units of 3-bedroom apartments.
CDL's Group General Manager Mr Chia Ngiang Hong said, "We are pleased to have been able to purchase this valuable piece of land, which enables us to consolidate the three adjoining sites into a large, well-configured and attractive plot, than if the sites were taken individually."
On 4 February 2000, CDL and Westbrook Asia L.L.C. entered into a memorandum of General Agreement for a 50:50 contractual joint venture to develop a condominium on the combined site.
Westbrook Asia is a subsidiary of Westbrook Partners, L.L.C., a fully integrated US-based real estate investment management company. To date, Westbrook has invested in 91 transactions totaling US$8 billion, involving individual assets, portfolios, operating companies and securities.
Seedevi has been sold by private treaty, unlike most collective sales which are commonly put up for sale by tender. According to DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, which brokered the deal, all owners except two have agreed to sell collectively. Based on the sale proceeds distribution method agreed on by all the owners, each unit stands to gain more than 120% over its existing value than if each were sold individually.
"For the sellers, they benefitted from the "marriage" value by selling to CDL. The consenting owners of Seedevi have understood that their site on its own, with a land area of only 26,285 sq ft, might not have been able to achieve such a land price in a tender, given recent evidences that developers were not very keen on small sites," said Mr Lee Hon Kiun, Executive Director of DTZ Debenham Tie Leung.
Seedevi is an 11-storey residential block with 15 apartments of various sizes. The site has a land area of 26,285 sq ft. Under the current Master Plan, a 30-storey residential development at a plot ratio of 2.8 can be built. Outline planning permission has been granted on 24 December 1999 for Seedevi, which is located at No. 19 Evelyn Road.