ST : Tanjong Pagar railway station could kick-start area's revamp

Sep 22, 2010

Tanjong Pagar railway station could kick-start area's revamp

By Joyce Teo , Esther Teo

THE Tanjong Pagar railway station land could turn out to be a bustling 'city within a city'.

The site is one of six Malaysian railway plots that Singapore will get as part of its land swop deal with Malaysia.

A Straits Times check of the Singapore Land Authority land information service shows a sprawling site measuring 159,075.6 sq m, or 15.91ha, with a 999-year lease. This works to about 11/2 times the size of the Padang.

It includes the railway station's passenger terminal, which is zoned for commercial use with a plot ratio of 4.2 and must be preserved, and disused tracks near Kampong Bahru Road.

This area is zoned for residential use with a plot ratio of 2.8. On the current basis, it could turn out to be one of the largest residential sites downtown.

The size should get developers excited. One of the largest condo projects expected to hit the market later this year is on the former Farrer Court site, with a land size of about 78,000 sq m. That site, with a plot ratio of 2.8, can take a maximum height of 36 storeys and about 1,500 homes.

All these factors add up to a rare slice of downtown that could ignite the area's regeneration.

Together with the planned waterfront redevelopment, the site could well become 'a city within a city', according to Cushman & Wakefield managing director Donald Han.

Knight Frank chairman Tan Tiong Cheng also sees the site as the 'missing part in the comprehensive redevelopment of the area, which is an extension of the central business district'.

'Now, the planning authorities will have no further obstacles to the redevelopment of the area, which in the longer term requires the relocation of the port,' he said.

Property experts see any number of uses for the site, including a mall, hotel, offices or condos, while the passenger terminal could host a boutique hotel or nightspot.

'There could be a hotel or a St James Power Station-like entertainment venue surrounded by a retail mall and offices, and then residential blocks at the fringe,' said Mr Han, who believes the land could be worth up to $850 per sq ft of potential gross floor area, or a few billion dollars.

Apart from the Tanjong Pagar land, Singapore will get a plot in Kranji, one in Woodlands and three in Bukit Timah.

It is unclear where the other plots are, but one site is rail land along Upper Bukit Timah Road, running down from The Rail Mall near Hume Avenue to Hindhede Road.

The 10.8ha strip currently on a 999-year lease is a reserve site, so its specific use has yet to be determined, although it is likely to be zoned residential, experts said.

Although it is long and narrow, the Government could combine it with adjoining state land to offer a more regular-shaped parcel.

Mr Ong Teck Hui, Credo Real Estate executive director of research and consultancy, said the future selling price of projects in the area, estimated at $1,100 psf, suggests a valuation of about $500 million.

The land's value must take into account the possibility that up to 25 per cent of the site might be used for infrastructure purposes such as roads and drains, he said.

Mr Han noted: 'One of the problems is how do you put a value to these elongated sites. On its own, it is almost impossible to develop... But when amalgamated with neighbouring residential sites, the value will go up.'