Friday, November 17, 2006

Bedok gets new mall?

Got this piece of news from Lushhome.
Frasers Centrepoint Ltd (FCL) has bought the adjacent Bedok and Changi theatre sites for $40.8 million and plans to develop the leasehold sites into a mall which, when completed, it will pump into its shopping centre trust, Frasers Centrepoint Trust.

The $40.8 million price reflects a unit land price of about $441 per square foot of potential gross floor area inclusive of an estimated $2.9 million development charge for tapping a higher plot ratio, and a land premium payable for buying two adjoining strips of state land that Frasers Centrepoint can buy.

Market watchers reckon the break-even cost for a new mall project on the site could be about $1,100 psf.

Sellers Shaw Brothers (owner of Changi theatre) and Cathay group (which owns the adjacent Bedok theatre) obtained outline planning permission in early August to redevelop the two theatre sites as well as the adjoining state lands into a mixed-use commercial complex with a 3.0 plot ratio, with a total gross floor area of about 133,598 sq ft.

The two theatres, on sites with a remaining lease of about 70 years, have a combined land area of 33,084 sq ft. The two strips of state land can contribute a further 11,448 sq ft in land area.

Well, one thing, do we need another mall in the East? One thing I do like about Bedok is that there are no malls. I'll be disappointed if Bedok Central becomes Tampines Central, swarming with students, workers, people. It's just so much quieter without malls. Besides, malls are bad news for shop owners nearby. It's only in these 1-2 years that I've seen business picking up for shop owners in and around my estate. I'm sure the arrival of the new mall is going to have a negative impact on their businesses.

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