Mediacorp puts up site of Caldecott Broadcast Centre for sale, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
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Mediacorp puts up site of Caldecott Broadcast Centre for sale

This article is more than 12 months old

Mediacorp has finally put up for sale the sprawling site that formerly housed the Caldecott Broadcast Centre in Andrew Road.

The sale, via a public tender exercise, will close on Dec 9.

Spanning 752,015 sq ft, the site served as the broadcast hub for more than six decades until 2015, when Mediacorp relocated to Mediapolis in one-north.

The media organisation was granted an outline approval by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) to redevelop the site, located in the Caldecott Hill Good Class Bungalow (GCB) area, into two-storey bungalows with a minimum land area of 800 sq m a house.

It appointed an architect to work out a subdivision scheme for the 7ha site, accommodating 67 bungalow plots, subject to approval.

GCBs are detached houses located within one of the 39 designated zones and have a minimum land area requirement of 1,400 sq m.

But there can be houses within these designated areas that do not meet the minimum size.

The site, currently zoned for civic and community institution use under the URA's Master Plan 2019, will have to be rezoned to residential use, which will entail payment of a differential premium (DP) to the state.

The leasehold site has a balance lease term of 73 years, which means the developer would also need to pay a lease upgrading premium (UP) to the Singapore Land Authority for the lease to be extended to a fresh 99-year tenure.

"The gross land value for a proposed bungalow redevelopment on site is expected to be in excess of $400 million including DP and UP, which would translate to a land rate in the region of $540 a sq ft.

"The net land value could be in excess of $260 million," said Mr Karamjit Singh, chief executive of Showsuite Consultancy, one of two consultants appointed to advise and market the property.

Based on the proposed scheme of 67 bungalows, the land cost would work out to about $6 million per land plot.

At this price, a developer may break even at about $9 million to $10 million per bungalow.

The detached houses are expected to be priced between $11 million and $14 million, subject to design and configuration.

Property