Harbour View Gardens up for collective sale

Owners at Harbour View Gardens in Pasir Panjang are hoping to make it second time lucky, after launching the project for collective sale at about $34 million yesterday.

About three years ago, the proposed sale of the site to Roxy-Pacific Holdings for $33 million was blocked by the High Court, and the decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal.

The basis for the rejection was that the public tender was launched even before the requisite 80 per cent of owners had agreed.

There was also "unacceptable inequality of treatment of dissenting proprietors", as a $200,000 inducement had been offered by the collective sales committee and marketing agent Colliers International to one dissenting owner but not to others.

This time, the owners of 13 of 14 units in the project, which consists of three-storey walk-up flats, have given their consent. That is about 92 per cent based on share value and 89 per cent based on total area.

The 2,856 sq m site is freehold and has a plot ratio of 1.4. As the existing project has already maximised the permitted gross floor area, no development charges would apply, marketing agents William Gan and Joey Sia of William Gan Realty told The Straits Times yesterday.

Potential buyers could build a project of about 57 units at an average of 70 sq m each, up to five storeys in height. If they apply to the Land Transport Authority to purchase a public carpark in front of the property, the combined area could support a project of about 7 1 units.

The reserve price works out to about $788 per sq ft (psf) per plot ratio. A development could fetch about $1,600 psf, noted Mr Gan.

Owners can expect to get returns ranging from $1.48 million for the smallest 94 sq m two-bedroom apartments to $3.29 million for the largest 252 sq m four-bedroom apartments. That is well above market values of $1.1 million to $1.2 million for smaller units and over $1.8 million for larger ones.

The project was built in 1986 and many are the first owners of the units there. The site is about 500m from Haw Par Villa MRT station, while Pasir Panjang Food Centre and Alexandra Retail Centre are nearby. New mixed-used project Icon@Pasir Panjang is just across the road.

Four or five potential buyers have already expressed interest in the property since Mr Gan started sussing out demand last October.

"It's good for us to hear recent news of the Shunfu Ville deal, and we have also been encouraged by the interest so far," said Mr Gan.

The tender closes on July 7.

wrennie@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on June 07, 2016.
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