Business Times - 15 Nov 2006
Frasers to turn Bedok theatres into
mall
By KALPANA RASHIWALA
FRASERS Centrepoint Ltd (FCL) has bought the adjacent Bedok and
Changi theatre sites for $40.8 million and plans to develop the
leasehold sites into a mall which, when completed, it will pump
into its shopping centre trust, Frasers Centrepoint Trust.
The $40.8 million price reflects a unit land price of about $441
per square foot of potential gross floor area inclusive of an
estimated $2.9 million development charge for tapping a higher plot
ratio, and a land premium payable for buying two adjoining strips
of state land that Frasers Centrepoint can buy.
Market watchers reckon the break-even cost for a new mall project
on the site could be about $1,100 psf.
Sellers Shaw Brothers (owner of Changi theatre) and Cathay group
(which owns the adjacent Bedok theatre) obtained outline planning
permission in early August to redevelop the two theatre sites as
well as the adjoining state lands into a mixed-use commercial
complex with a 3.0 plot ratio, with a total gross floor area of
about 133,598 sq ft.
The two theatres, on sites with a remaining lease of about 70
years, have a combined land area of 33,084 sq ft. The two strips of
state land can contribute a further 11,448 sq ft in land
area.
Knight Frank handled the sale of the Changi and Bedok theatres,
through a tender which closed on Oct 30. The tender is said to have
attracted three bids, of which Frasers Centrepoint's offer was the
highest. The other two bidders are believed to have been Guthrie
and Heeton.
The mall that Frasers Centrepoint Ltd (FCL) will develop on the
site will be its first in the eastern part of Singapore. FCL's CEO
Lim Ee Seng said in a statement yesterday: 'Upon redevelopment, the
Bedok sites will increase FCL's portfolio of quality retail malls
under management to eight, extending our reach to the eastern
region of Singapore . . . When completed, the retail mall is
expected to be injected into Frasers Centrepoint Trust.'
FCL has granted the trust a five-year right of first refusal on
completed mall properties in Singapore owned, acquired or developed
by FCL.
Christopher Tang, CEO of Frasers Centrepoint Asset Management Ltd,
the manager of the trust, said the latest deal demonstrates the
'merits of the developer-sponsored Reit model'.
Frasers Centrepoint Trust - which was listed on the Singapore
Exchange in July and which currently owns three shopping centres on
the island - now has ready access to an enlarged acquisition
pipeline of malls which includes the future Bedok mall, as well as
Northpoint 2 and the existing Centrepoint Shopping Centre units, Mr
Tang added.
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