A commercial site was put out for sale by the URA, the parcel with a surface of 950,593 sq. ft. having specific guidelines to be respected by the developer that will win the bid. According to URA, the future development could have up to 45 stories, although the majority of the space available must be dedicated to the making of offices. More precisely, 70% of the development has to be used in this direction, while the rest could easily be utilized for the making of residences, hotel, or shops, according to the future plans of the developer. In this case, we are talking about GuocoLand, the developer that won the bid for this site by paying $1.622 billion for it.
Five different bidders competed for this land, the bid of GuocoLand being the highest of all on the 28th of September, the date at which the tender closed. There are already two developments in the area that have mixed uses, the Duo and South Beach Tower, which points out toward the direction the new development is most likely to take as well. And whoever made this prediction was not wrong, the winning bidder announcing that the new development will be created to answer to the changing trends concerning work-live-play spaces. The main mission behind this daring project is to turn the district into a touristic and business venue at the same time.
Having such a generous space that will offer business opportunities, accommodation possibilities, and places where one could spend spare time in a pleasant manner, there are very high chances that this project will be a success. Also, the fact that the Kallang Basin and Marina Bay are both nearby, providing breathtaking views, is one more reason for the developer to feel confident about the future of this area. Most certainly the company will take advantage of these benefits and will maximize the potential of this site. But, the land also came with an old police station that was once operational on Bench Road. Well, according to the managing director, the futuristic plan will include everything found on the site, so we should expect something spectacular to emerge in the place of the former police station.
The head researcher of Edmund Tie & Company, Dr. Lee Nai Jia, stated that it will take at least until 2022 for the development of GuocoLand to be completed. But because the development will provide offices and residential units, it is highly likely that the demand for such spaces will continue to be high. The truth is that the company has previous experiences with the Tanjong Pagar Center, which was the creation of GuocoLand, a developed with mixed use that can be considered a real vertical city, as the president of the development group stated last year.
Learn more about this land bid from the two articles below,
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/guocoland-wins-beach-road-commercial-site-tender-with-its-1622-billion-top-bid
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/beach-road-commercial-site-nets-top-bid-of-162b
New Launch Condos by well-established developer, Guocoland
