Skip to main content
Best News Website or Mobile Service
WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
Best News Website or Mobile Service
Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
Hamburger Menu

Advertisement

Advertisement

Singapore

Homes, high-tech farms and sports facilities: What Singapore Turf Club site might be used for

Analysts say the number of homes that can be built on the Singapore Racecourse site is between 20,000 and 40,000.

Homes, high-tech farms and sports facilities: What Singapore Turf Club site might be used for

The Grandstand and race tracks at Kranji Racecourse. (Photo: Singapore Turf Club)

SINGAPORE: What might the 120 hectares of land that the Singapore Racecourse in Kranji currently sits on be used for?

On Monday (Jun 5), the Singapore Turf Club and the government announced that the last race meeting at the racecourse will be on Oct 5, 2024, and the land will be handed back to the government in 2027.

It will be redeveloped and used for housing, including public housing, and the government is also studying other potential uses, including leisure and recreation.

When asked about the potential number of public housing flats, Second Minister for National Development and for Finance Indranee Rajah said at a press conference that it was too early to say, but it would be part of a wider plan for the northern region of Singapore.

A spokesman for the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said planners will look at the site as a "clean slate" that they will plan holistically, taking in the characteristics of the area.

He added that the surrounding area, which is near Kranji Marshes and Mandai Wildlife Reserves, is very green, and the URA will take into account the "surrounding context".

The land area is larger than the 93ha Bidadari estate, although smaller than Housing and Development Board (HDB) townships – the smallest, Jurong East, spans 384ha.

Mr Niam Chiang Meng, Singapore Turf Club chairman, pointed out at the press conference that the whole Gardens by the Bay (101 ha) can fit in the Kranji racecourse. The plot of land is also next to the Kranji MRT station.

NEW HOMES

Analysts put the number of homes that can be built on the Singapore Turf Club site at between 20,000 and 40,000, depending on the future plans for the area.

Dr Tan Tee Khoon, country manager for Singapore at PropertyGuru said that the last time land of such scale was provided for development was the Jurong Lake District.

"It is a prudent decision by the government to repurpose the land given falling spectatorship of horse racing, putting the land to its best and optimal use,” said Dr Tan.

The average attendance per race day has declined significantly, from 11,000 in 2010 to about 6,000 in 2019. After the reopening of the racecourse in 2022, the average attendance was about 2,600 spectators per race day, said Ms Indranee.

Mr Lee Sze Teck, senior director of research at Huttons, said that the site may be too small to be a township on its own.

"This could likely be an extension of Woodlands if it is used for housing. If used entirely for housing, it may potentially add another 20,000 to 30,000 homes thus making Woodlands the largest township in Singapore," he said.

He added that the closure of the Singapore Turf Club will give planners "the room to rethink how to position Woodlands".

"In terms of infrastructure, the area is already served by Kranji MRT station and the BKE (Bukit Timah Expressway)," he said.

"It may attract people who are keen to stay near the nature reserve," he added.

Besides being near the Kranji MRT station, the site is also close to the Causeway, which could be attractive to those who commute over the Causeway often, said Ms Tricia Song, CBRE's head of research for Southeast Asia.

"Private homes could be keenly sought after as investment property as the Singapore American School is less than 1km away, and there are also industrial estates and wafer fab park nearby which could provide tenancy catchments," she added.

Mr Eugene Lim, key executive officer of ERA Realty Network, said that the terrain is flat and can be very easily adapted for residential and a variety of other uses.

He added that based on the current surrounding land uses in the URA Master Plan, residential uses may be incorporated both on the eastern and western portions of the site as an extension of current residential uses.

"On the eastern side, flanked by the BKE, land could be set aside for HDB flats. There is an existing HDB flat cluster at Woodlands Street 41 just across the BKE," he said.

"Over at the Western end along Turf Club Avenue, we envisage land could be set aside for low-rise condominiums or landed plots as there are already existing landed properties at the Jalan Kasau area."  

NEED FOR MORE FACILITIES

While some work may need to be done to shield homes from industrial land, this can be "easily overcome" with the placement of non-residential buildings to create the necessary buffer, said Huttons' Mr Lee. 

Mr Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex said that the revamping of Kranji as a new town will support the development of the Woodlands Regional Centre, expected to be the largest economic hub in the north of Singapore.

"As there are currently limited amenities in the Kranji area, the provision of more retail, food and beverage, and childcare options, for example, will be necessary to support and grow the residential population," he added.

Mr Lee said a theme park or sporting facilities may also be considered as the Singapore Sports School is already in Woodlands.

The general view of the paddock at Singapore Turf Club on Jun 5, 2023. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)

Other potential uses could include hotels or high-tech farms, said Dr Lee Nai Jia, PropertyGuru Group's head of real estate intelligence, data and software solutions.

“There is definitely some redevelopment potential for retail and hotels when the zoo is fully redeveloped under the Mandai Rejuvenation Project. Separately, there may be new needs for land for food labs and high-tech farming," he said.

Another potential development that could "catalyse the area" is the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link, he added.

Dr Lee noted that the area is considered far from most current major employment clusters and that it will "take some time for people to change their perception".

"Should one or more choice primary schools relocate their campuses to Kranji, it will provide an impetus for families with school-going children to benefit from this redevelopment," he added.

Mogul.sg chief research officer Nicholas Mak said that the closure of the Singapore Turf Club and the redevelopment of the site is only one part of the larger redevelopment and rezoning of the Kranji and Sungei Kadut area.

Most of the land in the area is either zoned for general industrial use or for future detailed development, that is, the exact land use zoning has not been assigned. A small amount of land is zoned for residential use.

He said that homes in the area will benefit from water views of the Kranji Reservoir or the Straits of Johor if industrial land around the reservoir or the coast is rezoned for residential and associated uses, such as for schools, retail, sports and recreation.

Ms Indranee said the redevelopment of the Singapore Racecourse site is in line with a broader plan to develop the northern region of Singapore. This includes the expansion of Woodlands Checkpoint and a masterplan for Lim Chu Kang to become a high-tech agri-food sector.

Source: CNA/hm(mi)

Advertisement

Also worth reading

Advertisement