UE Bizhub Tower Receives Nod To Be Turned Into Mixed-use Project
SINGAPORE – UE Bizhub Tower, a 23-storey freehold office tower in 79 Anson Road, has received approval to be transformed into a mixed-use development comprising office space, retail premises, and serviced apartments, reported The Business Times on Thursday morning (4 August, SGT).
This is after United Engineers (UE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yanlord Land Group, has obtained provisional permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in June 2022 to redevelop the existing commercial property standing on a 28,163 sq ft land plot.
The redeveloped project would have a gross floor area (GFA) of 157,917 sq ft of office space and 4,736 sq ft of retail space, in addition to 255 serviced apartments.
However, UE Bizhub Tower’s existing GFA of about 289,185 sq ft surpasses the 236,566 sq ft based on the 8.4 plot ratio intended for the commercial site under URA’s current Master Plan.
Still, market watchers pointed out that under the CBD Incentive Scheme the property would qualify for a 25 percent bonus on its existing GFA. Assuming United Engineers’ proposed development is approved under this scheme, the maximum GFA would be about 361,480 sq ft.
After factoring the approved office and retail GFA under the provisional permission, this would indicate the serviced apartments would have an average size of roughly 780 sq ft in GFA.
Introduced in 2019, the CBD Incentive Scheme grants additional GFA if owners of qualified ageing commercial properties, mainly office buildings, in particular areas of Singapore’s central business district (CBD) will redevelop their properties into mixed-use developments. This is in a bid to inject vibrancy in these areas.
Previously, United Engineers acquired 79 Anson Road for S$410 million in late-2012 from German fund manager SEB and Singapore’s Central Provident Fund Board. The office building was completed in 1992.
