September 2012 BTO – a short notes

They launched the latest batch of BTO on the first day of my short trip! Anyway, as promised, I’ll give some short review here sufficient for you to decide if you should go for this month’s selection.  I’ll try to cover the 2 sites at Ang Mo Kio and 1 at Tampines.

Before I move on further, guess many have known about the upcoming November BTO in Bedok, Chuo Chu Kang, Queenstown, Toa Payoh and Sengkang. You can check out the location here: http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10321p.nsf/w/BuyingNewFlatFlatsonOffer?OpenDocument#Upcoming.

First off, let’s look at Cheng San Court. Among the two sites, this of course will command a better premium since it’s within 500m distance away from the town centre. As a good town planning practice, a distance of 500m to amenities is considered a good practice because it’s considered as within range of walking distance. For this case, Cheng San Court still fit the bill as long as you go for nearest block which is 591A. For these short notes, I won’t dwell too much into details as I’m still working on the massing model and a detail explanation will follow suit once I’m done with the model.  How will I look at this site? To the north, for those who are AMK, you should have known that these are 4 blocks of 30 storeys Park Central @ AMK along Ang Mo Kio St 52 facing 590A and 590B. In the brochure it’s shown as existing public housing while in the perspectives, it’s been creatively excluded. While to the south are older slab blocks which may have en bloc potential and I won’t be surprise if these will goes up as high once they were redeveloped. Let’s say u get a unit here, what can happen? By the time you move in, Park Central @ AMK would have been into its 3rd or 4th years, you won’t be affected by surrounding construction activities until the southern block being redevelop in the distance future. From the URA 2008 masterplan, there won’t be any changes for now, meaning the school and park will stay for the time being.

Moving further east is Teck Ghee Parkview. To the south west angle, there will be a temple. Should there be any future potential complain, personally I think these have been aptly taken care of. As with Cheng San Court, this development will go up at high as 32 storey and this may be the new norm in AMK in not too distance future since much of the surrounding blocks are ranging from 14 to 16 with some 25 storey point blocks. In terms of location, this site is a bit further away from the town centre and that’s about 800m away. In terms of site planning, the development is strictly facing north south while few stacks facing direct east which overlook Neighbourhood park and Central Expressway. Based on URA 2008 Masterplan, to the north of this site will be a land reserved for utilities which can be anything example for PUB usage. If there should be any redevelopment to the surrounding blocks, this development may have to suffer a bit since there are potential for en bloc both to the north and south.

While this month BTO still retain the location of the house hold shelter next to the entrance, HDB have gone 1 step further to help reduced ‘wastage’! This is the official statement: To provide greater flexibility to home buyers and to minimize wastage in renovations, HDB will introduce a new opt-in scheme for the sanitary fittings in bathrooms. HDB will also pilot an “open kitchen” concept for flats at Teck Ghee Parkview. Buyers will be given a choice to opt for a partition wall between the living/dining area and the kitchen to better suit their lifestyle needs. (http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10296p.nsf/PressReleases/597ABC0F57FA037548257A860022A3F9?OpenDocument) Somehow, I do agree with this, but I hope the savings can be reflected in a higher price reduction.

After the ‘landmark’ Tampines DBSS, finally another BTO for Tampines! I must say this development is a little too far away from the town centre. From the map, you can scale it around 1.5km away from the town centre and unless you use bus, you may need to exercise a bit more every day. This development has a modest plot ratio of 2.8 and the height was capped at 16-storey which is comfortable for a matured town. Further north there is a United World College Of SEA (East Campus), which should be a welcome sight for Tampines GreenLace since the residence here will get to enjoy more breathing space. To the south, potentially there will be either a condominium or an EC. While to the west, there is a huge plot of land for industrial purpose. In terms of site layout, you will have a 50-50 chance of getting a north east or south west facing. With the school to north, units facing north will be a grab. From the Masterplan 2008, much of the surrounding site here are still under review, meaning you could be in for a positive surprise if ever it was decided this locality should be enhanced.

to be continued...