ST : d'Leedon condo at $1,680psf

Nov 25, 2010
d'Leedon condo at $1,680psf
By Yasmine Yahya



CapitaLand unveils their new show gallery for D'Leedon at the former Farrer Court condominium site. -- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

UNITS at the newly unveiled d'Leedon condominium will be launched at an average initial selling price of $1,680 per square foot (psf).

That makes the cheapest apartments - 635 sq ft units with a bedroom and study - less than $1 million. A typical two-bedder of 1,055 sq ft would set a buyer back $1.5 million.

The project is on the site of the former Farrer Court estate, which was sold in a collective sale in 2007. A first phase of 200 units will be launched for sale this weekend to former Farrer Court residents.

Developer CapitaLand said a public launch would likely follow soon after.

There has been a healthy level of interest among former Farrer Court residents, said Mr Wong Heang Fine, chief executive officer of CapitaLand Residential.

He told a briefing yesterday that 300 of the 600 former residents said they would attend a preview last night.

The Straits Times understands that CapitaLand could adjust prices, depending on how this weekend's launch goes.

CapitaLand Group chief executive Liew Mun Leong expects that once the project is launched for public sale, it will attract interest from foreign investors looking to park their money in Asia.

'Funds will come in because of the liquidity chase coming to Asia. And if they come to this part of the world, of course they will buy property, because it's the safest form of investment,' he said.

The 200 units being launched this weekend range from one- to four-bedroom apartments and are in two 36-storey towers. The entire project consists of 1,703 apartments in seven towers and 12 semi-detached villas.

Although d'Leedon sits on a huge site of over 840,000 sq ft, only 22 per cent of the land area is being taken up by homes. The rest is slated for gardens, facilities such as two swimming pools and a gym and retail outlets, which could include restaurants, a laundromat and a clinic.

Mr Liew also said that it was 'a possibility' that CapitaLand could be interested in bidding for a similarly large site - the collective sale of Pine Grove estate in Ulu Pandan.

While the site is attractive, the price tag of $1.7 billion is a hefty one for any single developer to take on alone, he said.

'I don't know how many of us can afford it,' he quipped.

However, he said CapitaLand would consider getting partners to bid for the site - as it had done for Farrer Court, when it formed a consortium with Hotel Properties, Wachovia Development Corporation and a fund managed by Morgan Stanley Real Estate.