CapitaLand buys Shanghai site

CAPITALAND has stepped up its presence in Shanghai by securing a commercial site in the Zhabei District for 598.1 million yuan (S$119.6 million).

The purchase was made in a government land auction through an indirect subsidiary, Yorksure Pte Ltd.

The 20,310 sq m site, with a plot ratio of 3.5, will be developed into quality offices and a high-end hotel or service residences. Total gross floor area is estimated at 71,085 sq m.

CapitaLand said in a statement yesterday that the leasehold site, located along West Guangzhong Road in the commercial area of Ling Shi, is in the Shanghai Multimedia Valley.

The Shanghai Multimedia Valley, with a planned total gross floor area of 800,000 sq m, will house a concentrated cluster of high-tech and multimedia-related industries.

The mega project is slated for completion in 2015.

The property group’s proposed Zhabei District development, which has a tenure of 40 years for the hotel and 50 years for the offices, will be ready by end-2009 to benefit from the maturing business environment in the area.

Lim Ming Yan, CEO of CapitaLand China, said: ‘This acquisition will enhance our presence in Shanghai and extend the group’s footprint into Zhabei District.

‘With its comprehensive transport infrastructure, excellent connectivity and maturing business environment, Zhabei District is becoming one of the major extensions of the city’s central business district.

‘We will build quality offices and high-end business accommodation to cater to the needs of those working in the Shanghai Multimedia Valley.’

Source : Straits Times – 24 Aug 2007

CapitaLand unveils another Viet project

CAPITALAND has signed a conditional joint venture (JV) agreement with Azure City Co to develop a 1,200-unit high-rise condominium project in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

This brings CapitaLand’s pipeline of residential units in Vietnam to 2,800 homes, after venturing there in 2006.

CapitaLand will take a 75 per cent stake in the JV for $48.8 million.

Azure City Co, a local Vietnamese company involved in infrastructure and property, will hold the remaining 25 per cent.

The site is located in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 9 and CapitaLand said it will develop the project over the next three to four years.

CapitaLand Residential CEO Lui Chong Chee said: ‘With the country’s strong economic growth fuelling rapid urbanisation, we see demand for well-built and well-designed homes rising in both metropolitan cities like Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, as well as the other major cities in the country.’

This will be CapitaLand’s fourth residential development in Vietnam.

All four are in Ho Chi Minh City. The first is the 750-unit Vista in District 2 and CapitaLand says that the first phase, which was launched in June, has been fully taken up.

A 600-unit development in District 7 will be launched by end-2007.

CapitaLand also announced earlier this month that it will develop a 300-unit landed-housing develop with Azure City Co.

Source : Business Times – 23 Aug 2007

CDL to invest up to $460m in Korean project

CITY Developments (CDL) will be giving one of South Korea’s leading cities, Incheon, an image boost, with plans to invest up to US$300 million (S$459.2 million) in a major residential and commercial project.

The Singapore-listed property giant yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with DC Chemical Company (DCC) to develop a large site in the city.

Under the deal, it will pump between US$150 million and US$300 million into the site, which is more than 600,000 sq m. By comparison, Suntec City Mall has only about 82,498 sq m of retail space.

Incheon, which will play host to the 2014 Asian Games, is a major seaport with a population of about 2.5 million, not far from the country’s capital of Seoul.

A large-scale commercial centre will be built on a site of 281,850 sq m, DCC said at a press conference held in Incheon yesterday.

The centre will consist of a 50-storey tower, incorporating a ‘top-class’ hotel, a service residence and an office building. These will be anchor facilities.

Department stores, brand outlets, multiplex cinemas and an e-sports gaming hall will flank both sides of the tower.

To the north of the integrated commercial centre, another large site of about 380,000 sq m of land is slated for residential development.

Renowned British and engineering firm Atkins – which was responsible for the Burj Al-Arab in Dubai, the world’s first seven-star hotel – has been roped in to be the conceptual designer for the project.

Development work is scheduled to begin in two years with the main commercial centre to be constructed first, followed by residential blocks in 2010.

The large-scale commercial centre, according to DCC’s chief executive, Mr Baik Woo Suk, will ’significantly increase’ economic activity in the area and will create many jobs, in a boost to Incheon’s economy.

‘When Incheon City hosts the Asian Games in 2014, this commercial centre will be the very first image visitors will see when crossing over on Incheon Bridge into Incheon City,’ he said.

CDL’s group general manager, Mr Chia Ngiang Hong, said the firm is always on the lookout for ‘new strategic growth opportunities’, and it believes this investment is timely, given the ‘exciting developments’ in South Korea.

‘With the synergistic collaboration of an established company such as DCC, coupled with our many decades of experience in the real estate and hotel industry, we are very positive about the prospects of this project,’ he added.

This is not CDL’s first investment in South Korea’s burgeoning economy.

Subsidiary Millennium and Copthorne Hotels owns and operates Millennium Seoul Hilton hotel, Hong Leong Group spokesman Gerry de Silva told The Straits Times. ‘Of course we’re looking for viable investments in the region, and we’ve been looking at Korea for several years now. We think Korea is a market that can offer more value.’

Shares of CDL, which is part of the Hong Leong Group, closed 50 cents lower at $13.60 yesterday. The announcement came after the market had closed.

Listed on the Korean Stock Exchange, DCC is among the world’s top producers of carbon black, soda ash and pitch.

Source : Straits Times – 17 Aug 2007

CapitaLand buys two Malaysian malls for $527m

CAPITALAND has bought two Malaysian shopping centres for around $527.1 million, it announced yesterday.

The property giant, working through two of its subsidiaries, paid $336.8 million for Gurney Plaza in Penang and about $190.3 million for Selangor’s Mines Shopping Fair.

The malls will form the first two seed assets for the proposed CapitaLand-sponsored Malaysian retail real estate investment trust (Reit), CapitaLand said.

Gurney Plaza is a seven-storey mall strategically located on Penang’s Gurney Drive promenade. The mall is about five minutes’ drive from the city centre of Georgetown.

It has more than 700,000 sq ft in net lettable area and more than 300 specialty stores.

Mines Shopping Fair is a prime retail mall that is part of the Mines Resort City in Selangor. Opened in 1997, it has a unique Venetian-styled canal flowing through the mall.

The mall is located in the growth corridor in the south of Kuala Lumpur, and measures around 650,000 sq ft in net lettable area.

CapitaLand Retail’s chief executive, Mr Pua Seck Guan, said Mines Shopping Fair is a ‘quality asset’ that ‘enjoys a good flow of human traffic’ while Gurney Plaza ‘enjoys close to 100 per cent occupancy’.

‘The acquisitions provide CapitaLand with a unique opportunity to extend our retail real estate platform to Malaysia which, in addition to Singapore, China, India and Japan, will further strengthen our position as the leading retail property company in Asia,’ he said.

CapitaLand Group president and chief executive Liew Mun Leong said in a statement that the two acquisitions will help the company increase its Reit portfolio in Singapore and overseas.

‘In line with our current Reit strategy, we have identified other quality Malaysian retail assets that will augment Gurney Plaza and Mines Shopping Fair, and form the pipeline of assets for our pure-play Malaysian retail Reit, which could possibly be listed within a year,’ he added.

CapitaLand has sponsored five Reits. Four are listed on the Singapore Exchange and one on Bursa Malaysia.

Source : Straits Times – 17 Aug 2007

Centrally located homes co-built by KepLand

If Singapore developers are more your cup of tea, Keppel Land (KepLand) has teamed up with partners to develop a 500ha residential township in Johor.

Named Taman Sutera, the project is centrally located near the Johor Baru City Centre and the upcoming Danga Bay waterfront city.

It will have homes and shops as well as recreational facilities spread over two zones: Taman Sutera and Sutera Utama.

So far, 2,439 units have been launched for sale with 89 per cent already snapped up, KepLand said.

The development offers several home types. In Sutera Utama, which has 24-hour security, single-storey terraces with about 1,900 sq ft of built-up area are going for as little as RM299,000 (S$132,300).

There are also bigger terrace houses at up to 3,200 sq ft, costing from RM446,200.

Also on sale in Sutera Utama are two- or three-storey semi-detached houses, with built-up areas ranging from 3,600 sq ft to 4,300 sq ft. The double-storey houses cost from RM698,000 while the triple-storey ones start from RM748,000.

Source : Sunday Times – 5 Aug 2007

Centrally located homes co-built by KepLand

If Singapore developers are more your cup of tea, Keppel Land (KepLand) has teamed up with partners to develop a 500ha residential township in Johor.

Named Taman Sutera, the project is centrally located near the Johor Baru City Centre and the upcoming Danga Bay waterfront city.

It will have homes and shops as well as recreational facilities spread over two zones: Taman Sutera and Sutera Utama.

So far, 2,439 units have been launched for sale with 89 per cent already snapped up, KepLand said.

The development offers several home types. In Sutera Utama, which has 24-hour security, single-storey terraces with about 1,900 sq ft of built-up area are going for as little as RM299,000 (S$132,300).

There are also bigger terrace houses at up to 3,200 sq ft, costing from RM446,200.

Also on sale in Sutera Utama are two- or three-storey semi-detached houses, with built-up areas ranging from 3,600 sq ft to 4,300 sq ft. The double-storey houses cost from RM698,000 while the triple-storey ones start from RM748,000.

Source : Sunday Times – 5 Aug 2007

All-in-one township that’s still growing

TWENTY minutes away from the Johor Baru city centre is the township of Taman Perling, on the border of the Nusajaya region.

Launched in the 1980s by developer Pelangi Berhad, Taman Perling covers 373ha and comprises 9,924 homes.

Of these, 80 per cent have been sold and built.

Residents can enjoy a shopping mall, cinemas and banking facilities, all located within the township.

Pelangi is constructing a new phase of 118 double-storey terrace homes in the development, to be completed by the middle of next year.

Two types of terraces will be up for sale: the smaller ones will have 2,124 sq ft of built-up area and cost from RM288,000 (S$127,400).

Bigger units will be built up to 2,351 sq ft and start from RM302,000.

Pelangi will also launch a gated and guarded community of 116 double-storey homes next month. Prices for these houses are expected to be around RM380,000 for a standard intermediate unit.

Source : Sunday Times – 5 Aug 2007

Golfers’ paradise beyond the horizon

NESTLED in the heart of Nusajaya is a sprawling 486ha development known as Horizon Hills, a RM2.6 billion (S$1.2 billion) project being developed by Gamuda Land.

The gated township, comprising 6,000 homes located 20km from the Second Link, will have an 18-hole golf course and a RM50 million golf and country club for the exclusive use of Horizon Hills residents.

Homes in the first of the development’s 13 precincts, Gateway, are available for sale. The second precinct, Golf, will come on the market next month.

Gateway was launched in March with 465 units: double-storey link houses, cluster terraces and semi-detached houses. To date, 85 per cent of the units launched have been sold.

Only 30 per cent of units in each precinct are available to foreigners, so there are only a handful of semi-detached homes left for Singaporeans to buy, said Gamuda Land.

But the Golf precinct will have more houses for sale: 653 in all, comprising link houses, cluster terraces, semi-detached houses and bungalows. Prices will start from RM260,000.

Source : Sunday Times – 5 Aug 2007

High-end homes sought after by foreign buyers

UPMARKET Ledang Heights is one of the better-known residential projects in Nusajaya.

The 146ha gated site comes with its own central park, kindergarten and fruit orchards.

It boasts 571 freehold bungalows and villas, which have proved so popular with foreigners that all the bungalow lots allocated for international buyers have been snapped up.

Prices have shot up to RM39 psf from RM27 (S$12) per sq ft a year ago.

But interested home buyers still have something to look forward to. A similar project, Ledang Heights East, is coming up right next door. Tentatively scheduled for launch in October, it will have a mix of landed homes.

While this means it will be slightly more densely built, the project will still be a high-end one, says developer Bandar Nusajaya. It will boast a ‘forest resort home concept’, with rainforests as part of the landscape. Of the 871 homes in the development, 70 per cent will be available for sale to international buyers.

One of the choices are terrace homes on 1,875 sq ft plots with built-up areas of about 2,600 sq ft. These start at RM500,000. Semi-detached houses are also available. They have land sizes of 3,200 sq ft and built-up areas of slightly more than 3,000 sq ft, and cost from RM800,000.

Buyers can also pick bungalows, which sit on plots of up to 10,000 sq ft and have built-up areas of 4,000 to 5,000 sq ft. These will cost about RM1 million.

Source : Sunday Times – 5 Aug 2007

Glittering waterfront metropolis

The glittering jewel in Malaysia’s Iskandar Development Region is the Danga Bay waterfront city, a 25km coastal stretch with a financial district, an eco-tourism theme park and upscale hotels and homes.

With enthusiastic marketing, Danga Bay homes have received a warm response.

About 75 per cent of the Mediterranean-style Casa Almyra houses were reportedly sold before their official launch, with most bought by Malaysians.

But other buyers have not missed the boat yet, with two much-anticipated projects to be launched this year.

Danga Bay Service Residence and Resort Hotel, a RM536 million (S$237.1 million) development with luxury service apartments, is being developed by Ekovest.

And in October, Ekovest will launch Phase One of Sanctuary Island Villas: 82 waterfront bungalows and villas situated on their own island, complete with private berths.

The freehold units will be priced at RM3 million to RM15 million each, and are being touted as the country’s most exclusive private residential development.

Source : Sunday Times – 5 Aug 2007