Marina Gardens Crescent White Site Tender Not Awarded as Developer's Bid Deemed Too Low

The government has decided not to award the white site at Marina Gardens Crescent after deeming the bid submitted by developers too low. This marks the first time since 2011 that the government has rejected a tender bid for a major site.

A consortium comprising GuocoLand (Singapore), a subsidiary of GuocoLand, Intrepid Investments, a unit of Hong Leong Holdings, and TID Residential submitted a bid deemed too low for the Marina Gardens Crescent site, resulting in the authorities withholding the award.

The site will now be placed on the Reserve List under the first-half 2024 Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme. Interested bidders can apply to trigger the site for tender by submitting a minimum bid that meets the government's valuation requirements.

Tender for the site closed on 19 January, with the GuocoLand-led consortium emerging as the sole bidder. The consortium submitted an offer of $770.46 million, translating to $984 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr). This bid was 29.8% lower than the $1,402 psf ppr fetched for the nearby Marina Gardens Lane site, which closed for tender last year.

The consortium's offer fell short of market expectations and was significantly below recent prices achieved for other government land sales sites in the Marina Gardens precinct.

When assessing tender bids, the government takes into account factors such as the reserve price, the site's unique attributes, and prevailing market conditions. The reserve price remains confidential.

Analysts: Bid Reflects Bearish Outlook on Downtown Home Prices

The government's decision to reject the offer appears to signal to developers not to submit unreasonably low bids, reinforcing its prerogative to turn down bids that fall below fair market value.

On one hand, this solitary bid could be seen as reflecting the bidder's pessimistic view that downtown property prices will soften over the next two years—around the time residential units would have been launched had the site been awarded. On the other hand, the government holds a more positive stance, expecting real estate values in the precinct to hold firm or appreciate in the near future.

The last time the government turned down tender bids for a major land parcel was in 2011, when a joint bid of around $529.3 million ($565.74 psf ppr) submitted by UOL Group and Singapore Land Group for a second mixed commercial site at Paya Lebar Central was rejected.

In 2020, the government also rejected bids for two dementia care village sites at Gibraltar Crescent due to low pricing. At the time, Pre 11 and Orpea Singapore had jointly bid $15 million for the two parcels.

The Marina Gardens Crescent site is a 99-year leasehold commercial and residential plot that can yield around 775 residential units and 64,560 sq ft of commercial space.

Qingjian-Led Consortium Clinches Media Circle Site for Nearly $400M

Meanwhile, the tender for the Media Circle site, which closed on the same day as Marina Gardens Crescent, was awarded to a consortium comprising CNQC Realty (Clementi), a unit of Qingjian Realty, and Forsea Residence. The consortium placed the top bid of $395.29 million, which works out to $1,191 psf ppr.

The site can yield about 355 residential units and approximately 4,300 sq ft of commercial space.