By UMA SHANKARI

Hong Leong Holdings, which recently won a site along Serangoon Avenue 3 in a hotly contested government tender, says that it will build a one-of-a-kind project on the site with more than 400 units.

The developer is now finalising the project but says that it will be 'cutting edge' in design and concept. It will also feature units sized according to the needs of buyers, said Hong Leong Holdings executive Quek Kon Hui.

Hong Leong won the 99-year leasehold site this month in a tender by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. It put in the top bid of $221 million or $529 per sq ft of gross floor area.

Addressing concerns over 'shoebox' units, Mr Quek said that Hong Leong will give value without compromising on functional living space.

The project is expected to be launched the first half of next year.

Separately, sales at the 175-unit Lincoln Suites in Khiang Guan Avenue, which was soft-launched last week, have been brisk, the companies developing the project said yesterday.

Forty-six of the 56 units launched in phase one were snapped up by the close of the weekend. They comprised 15 studio units and 31 one- to three-bedroom units.

The project is being jointly developed by Koh Brothers, Heeton Holdings, KSH Holdings and Lian Beng Group.

The consortium paid $243 million for the District 11 site at the height of the property boom in June 2007. This worked out to about $1,200 psf per plot ratio.

The developers said last week that the units will be offered at an average price of $1,680 psf in the first phase but could be higher in later phases. The project will be officially launched this weekend.

Elsewhere, GuocoLand said in an update that it sold 99 per cent of the 180 units launched at the weekend in its Ascot Park development in Nanjing, China.

The 180 units were launched at an average price of 8,500 yuan (S$1,742) per sq m - about 20 per cent higher than prices in phase one, which was fully sold in July this year.

Of those units, 178 or 99 per cent have been sold so far. The project has 1,112 apartments in all.

This article was first published in The Business Times.