1,700 private homes and office, retail spaces in new Jurong Lake District site
The proposed integrated development will be progressively completed over the next 10 to 15 years.
SINGAPORE: Land near the Jurong East MRT interchange was launched for tender on Thursday (Jun 22) for development to kickstart a new precinct in the Jurong Lake District.
The 6.5ha white site, split into three plots of land, is to be sold to one master developer to plan a mix of office, private homes and other amenities.
There is a potential yield of about 1,700 housing units, at least 146,000 sq m of office space and 73,000 sq m of gross floor area for shops, restaurants, entertainment, hotel, community uses or more offices.
The proposed integrated development will be progressively completed over the next 10 to 15 years, said URA.
The successful tenderer is required to build at least 70,000 sq m gross floor area of office space and 600 private housing units as part of the first phase of the development, but will have the flexibility to phase out the remaining supply according to market demand.
The three plots of land link the existing commercial centre at Jurong East MRT interchange station to a new precinct and the future Jurong Lake District station of the Cross Island Line, said the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
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The public tender signals the next stage of development for the Jurong Lake District, which is being progressively developed into Singapore's largest business district outside the city centre, as part of URA’s decentralisation strategy.
The area around the Jurong East MRT interchange station has already been extensively developed following the release of the Jurong Lake District blueprint in 2008. Shopping malls, hospitals and commercial buildings have sprouted up in the area over the last decade.
In the upcoming phase, a new 120ha precinct south of Jurong Town Hall Road and stretching towards Jurong Lake will be progressively redeveloped and the white site is the first plot launched for tender.
MASTER DEVELOPER TO PLAN THE SITE
URA said that the intention is for the master developer to comprehensively master plan the entire site. With a white zone, developers would have the flexibility to "experiment with new development concepts and building typologies", added URA.Â
This would be the second master development site to be launched in Singapore after the 3.55ha Marina Bay Financial District, and the biggest at 6.5ha or about 12 football fields.Â
The three land plots will also be developed in phases, with plot 1, a vacant lot that sits on part of land from the old Jurong Country Club, available for development from now.
Land plot 2 where the existing bus interchange is will be available from 2028 or 2029 while plot 3, where the Jurong Region Line is being constructed, will be free from June 2026 onwards.
To integrate the various uses, the developer should adopt district-level urban solutions such as a district cooling system and district pneumatic waste conveyancing system, said URA. These systems allow for a more efficient supply of chilled water and of waste disposal at a district level and will be more sustainable.
The 410ha Jurong Lake District is planned as a model sustainable district, and will encourage car-lite transport. It will have four train lines linking it to the rest of the island, with two more - the Jurong Regional Line and Cross Island Line - being built.
By 2028, a new Jurong Region Line station and an Integrated Transport Hub comprising offices, community spaces and retail amenities will be built next to Jurong East MRT interchange station.
"The government will sustain the development momentum at Jurong Lake District, through the release of sites for sale, with the supply carefully paced to take into account economic and market conditions," said URA.
The public tender is under the Confirmed List of the first half 2023 (1H2023) Government Land Sales Programme and will close at 12pm on Mar 26, 2024. More details on the land parcel are available on the URA website.
"GAME CHANGER"
Mr Lam Chern Woon, head of research and consulting at Edmund Tie, described the development of the site as a "game changer" in the transformation of Jurong Lake District by revitalising and catalysing business and tourism activity.
He expects good demand for the housing units as the area has not seen a new private housing project launched since J Gateway in 2013.Â
"The 100 per cent sell-out of J Gateway on launch day, coupled with a hiatus of 10 years, suggests that housing demand is already spoken for, notwithstanding the fact that J Cube would be redeveloped in the near future to a mixed-use residential project," said Mr Lam.
Given the large investment outlay and 10 to 15-year commitment, the bidding pool is expected to be limited to "experienced large-scale mixed-used developers with deep pockets who are likely to form consortiums", said Ms Tay Huey Ying of JLL.
Ms Tay listed several factors that she thinks will moderate the bid prices for the site, one of which was a host of planning requirements including lower car parking provisions and green building conditions.
She also pointed out that while the long-term potential of the Jurong Lake District was "optimistic", in the short term, ongoing infrastructural works like the construction of MRT lines will present challenges when attracting office occupiers to the location.
Ms Wong Siew Ying, PropNex Realty's head of research and content, said that the site might also draw foreign developers, who may team up to form joint ventures to bid for the site.
The white site is sizable and will command a large price quantum, but the option scheme – where the master developer can choose the duration in which to complete the purchase of the entire site – will help to mitigate risks for the successful tenderer amid cautious market sentiment, she added.
This is as the master developer only pays upfront for the land needed to be developed for the first phase, along with an option fee for the right to buy the rest of the site for a period of five to eight years.
"The ability to choose the option period will give developers flexibility in master planning and developing the site, in accordance with their own assessment of risks and market demand," said Ms Wong. Â
Mr Justin Quek, Deputy CEO of OrangeTee & Tie said developers will likely have to form consortiums in order to bid for a land acquisition of this size.Â
"The massive scale of such a project will likely require major developer consortiums with deeper pockets, and also require a longer period of investment, in this case possibly over a decade to fully develop the three plots."
He added that the future residential project will likely be attractive, due to the government developing the district to be a second central business district.Â
"Given the flexibility of phasing the development over time and the lack of exciting new happenings in the west in recent times, we could possibly see three to five bidders."Â