Katong Shopping Centre up for sale again

The landmark Katong Shopping Centre is looking for buyers again, now that plans to develop the site into a mall with serviced apartments have been approved.

More than 80 per cent of the owners by share value had agreed to a collective sale last June, but it did not go through as the Government did not give its approval for the proposed redevelopment plans.

"The Urban Redevelopment Authority had previously rejected approval of the first proposal as there had been concerns on the traffic congestion in the area, which the initial proposal of a fully commercial mall would add on to," said Ms Christina Sim, director for capital markets Cushman & Wakefield.

She added that the new zoning of the area for commercial/serviced residence use "would not add too much vehicular traffic".

Now that the plans have received the green light, the search for buyers is back on.

The property's reserve price remains $630 million, which translates to a land price of $2,248 per square foot of gross floor area.

Ms Sim said the plot should yield more than 400 units of serviced apartments, based on unit sizes of about 500 sq ft.

xinen@sph.com.sg

This article by The Straits Times was published in The New Paper, a free newspaper published by Singapore Press Holdings.