Oxley-led venture nabs Rio Casa for $575m

The development is located at Hougang Avenue 7.

Oxley-Lian Beng Venture acquired the 286-unit development Rio Casa at Hougang Avenue 7.

According to Knight Frank, the sale price of $575m, coupled with an additional estimated differential premium of $208m payable to the State to top up the lease to a fresh 99 years, and to develop the site to a gross plot ratio (GPR) of 2.8, translates to a land price of approximately $706 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), based on the maximum permissible Gross Floor Area (GFA) of approximately 1,109,447 sq ft.

With the inclusion of a 10% bonus balcony and a proposed plot ratio of 3.08, the land price works out to approximately $669 psf ppr, subject to the authorities’ approval.

Over 80% of the owners consented to the en bloc sale in a short three-week frame following the first signature obtained, resulting in the launch of a public tender on 11 April 2017 which closed on May 23.

Each owner stands to receive a gross sale price of approximately $2m upon the successful completion of the sale, which is subject to several conditions being met, including an order of sale by the Strata Titles Board or Court Approval.

Rio Casa currently comprises of seven residential blocks of 286 apartment and maisonette units with a site area of 36,811.1 sq m (approximately 396,231 sq ft). Under the Master Plan 2014, the site is zoned “Residential” with a GPR of 2.8, and has more than 200 metres’ frontage of riverfront and greenery views. Rio Casa was originally built in the mid-1980s by the Housing and Urban Development Company (HUDC), a unit of the Housing Development Board, and was later privatised in 2014.