Fragrance Group subsidiary buys Waterloo Apartments for $131.1m
Fragrance Group plans to develop the 14,369 sq ft site into a hotel. (Photo: Cushman & Wakefield)
Waterloo Apartments, a 30-unit residential development at 64 Waterloo Street within the Bras Basah/Bugis area, has been sold en bloc for $131.1 million to a fully-owned subsidiary of Fragrance Group, reported the Business Times.
It plans to redevelop the 14,369 sq ft site into a hotel.
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This comes as outline planning permission (OPP) has been secured to change the 999-year leasehold property’s zoning from “residential with first-storey commercial” with a 2.8 plot ratio to hotel use with a 4.2 plot ratio or a maximum gross floor area of around 60,348 sq ft. Marketing agent Cushman & Wakefield revealed that no development charge is payable given the site’s high development baseline.
The sale, however, is subject to the Strata Titles Board’s approval.
“We decided to change the course of the collective sale and instead of selling Waterloo Apartments as a residential development site, we opted to submit an OPP and wait for the hotel approval given that the residential en bloc market was reeling from the blow of the July 6 cooling measures,” said Cushman & Wakefield capital markets director Christina Sim.
“We were also fortunate that the site is well located and within a zone which the Urban Redevelopment Authority would like to see enhanced into a kaleidoscope of delightful and memorable places.”
A short distance from Bras Basah MRT station on the Circle Line and Bencoolen MRT station on the Downtown Line, Waterloo Apartments is just one stop away from Dhoby Ghaut Interchange.
“This offering gives the successful developer an opportunity to capitalise on our city’s rich heritage by building an exclusive boutique hotel befitting the Civic District,” noted Sim.
Owners at the development will likely receive gross sales proceeds of around $4.37 million per unit.
More: Understanding The En Bloc Process (August 2018)
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
