1 In line with the Government's recent initiative to make available more office space to meet the needs of financial institutions and other business services, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) has identified six State properties to be tenanted out for office use only. This is the first time that SLA is putting up State properties solely for office use. The total estimated gross floor area (GFA) to be let out is about 43,000 square metres (sqm) for the first half of 2007.

State properties made available for dedicated office use for 1H07

2 The six State properties in the pipeline are:

a) 195 Pearl's Hill Terrace, former Police HQ
b) 18 Pearls' Hill Terrace, a former training centre
c) 150 Cantonment Road, former Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) building
d) 341 River Valley Road, former River Valley Primary School
e) 1801 Upper Changi Road North, former CAAS Office
f) 991 Alexandra Road, former ITE Pasir Panjang

Please see Annex A for details of the six State properties.

3 Of the six properties, three (195 Pearl's Hill Terrace, 18 Pearls' Hill Terrace, & 341 River Valley Road) are located within the Central Business District (CBD) areas. The key feature of these six State properties is that most are former institutional buildings that were last used as Government offices or former schools. They are chosen for their good locations and ease for adaptive reuse. They come with a range of allowable tenures from three to nine years. These properties will help to meet part of the current strong demand for office space and provide options for office users in both CBD and non-CBD areas.

4 SLA will assess the market response and take-up rate for these properties before deciding whether more properties dedicated solely to office use should be released in the second half of the year.

5 On the bid to ease the shortage of office space, SLA's Director of Land Operations, Mr Simon Ong, said, "These State properties were selected to help ease office space crunch and optimise the use of vacant State properties at the same time. The six State properties that we have identified have good locations - some are in prime CBD areas, with large space and purpose-built facilities. Depending on the demand, we will continue to work with the relevant agencies to identify more sites dedicated to office space in the second half of the year."

195 Pearl's Hill Terrace

6 The first State property to be released for exclusive office use is 195 Pearl's Hill Terrace. It was put on public tender under the RentDirect Scheme on Tuesday, 30 January. The property has an estimated land area of about 14,500 sqm. The GFA of about 13,500 sqm is roughly equivalent to one and a half football fields. It comprises one block of three-storey building with a substation and shelter. The tenure is on a three-year term till December 2009. Please see Annex B for building image.

7 The tender will close on 13 February. Under the RentDirect Scheme, the SLA will receive all offers for the property for a 2-week period up to the closing date. The property will be awarded to the highest acceptable offer. If SLA does not receive any acceptable offers, SLA will evaluate subsequent offers on a first-come-first-served basis.

8 For more information on this tender, please visit SLA's State Property and Information Online (SPIO) web portal (https://app1.sla.gov.sg/spio), or call the SPIO hotline at 6323 9154. The tender documents are available on http://www.gebiz.gov.sg/. Tender applications may be deposited at Singapore Land Authority, 8 Shenton Way, #26-01 Temasek Tower, Singapore 068811.

9 For media enquiries, please contact Ms Susan Koh from Corporate Communications at tel: 6323 8105, hp: 9829 1906 or e-mail: Susan_Koh@sla.gov.sg, or Miss Wang Hui Ling at tel: 6323 9116, hp: 9823 1479, or e-mail: Wang_Hui_Ling@sla.gov.sg.

Issued by:
Singapore Land Authority
5 February 2007

Attachments

Annex A: Details on six State properties to be made available for dedicated office use in 1st half 2007
(Source: Singapore Land Authority)

Annex B: Photograph of 195 Pearl's Hill Terrace, Singapore 168976 (former Police HQ)
(Source: Singapore Land Authority)

About RentDirect Scheme

SLA started the RentDirect Scheme in 2005 to allow businesses to make direct rental offers to SLA for disused State properties on the scheme. The scheme shortens the time of award of a property under a normal tender from the 11 weeks to a mere four weeks, and is a faster way to rent out State property to the public. At that time, the properties placed on the scheme were confined to those with short tenures of three years or less. It was extended in February 2006 to include properties with tenures of more than three years, up to a maximum of nine years (3+3+3 years). SLA has successfully awarded eight State properties under the RentDirect scheme since its launch.

About SLA

Singapore Land Authority (SLA) is a statutory board with the Ministry of Law. Its mission is to optimise land resources for the economic and social development of Singapore. SLA is responsible for the direct management of some 14,000 hectares of State land and about 5,000 buildings. It is also in charge of land sales, leases, acquisitions and allocation, developing and marketing land-related information, and maintaining the national land information database through digitised land information services. SLA is also the national land registration authority for property transactions, and the issuance and guarantee of land titles in Singapore. It also manages and maintains the national land survey system, including the defining of boundaries or legal limits of properties based on a coordinated cadastre survey system. Please visit www.sla.gov.sg for more information. .