The tender for the Chitty Road and Veerasamy Road site closed on Tuesday (Jul 28) with provisional results in line with market expectations. Analysts polled by The Business Times had forecast three to 10 bids for the site.

YK Land’s winning bid of S$35.3 million, or S$962 psf, was well ahead of the second-highest offer of S$23.8 million, or about S$650 psf, from Conint and SEEDoE Ventures. The remaining bids came from RPC One at S$23.7 million (S$646 psf), Mezzo Properties at S$16.4 million (S$447 psf), Haus @ Central at S$15.6 million (S$424 psf), Westwood Hostel (Eco Energy) at S$12.0 million (S$327 psf), and Bogen Venture at S$10.6 million (S$289 psf).

“The S$962 psf land rate came in below S$1,000 psf as bidders factored in renovation and restoration costs,” said Nicholas Mak, chief research officer at Mogul.sg.

The 18 two-storey terrace houses were built in 1927 and sit on a 3,407 square metre (about 0.34 hectare) site in the historic district. Originally erected as municipal quarters for government employees, they are arranged in two parallel rows connected by a central back lane. The site is on a 99-year lease and zoned for residential use.

Works must follow conservation guidelines, and the buyer takes on the restoration and structural strengthening. The maximum building height is capped at the existing two storeys, and the gross floor area will be set by the existing building envelope after restoration. Structural investigation reports were provided to tenderers to help them gauge the works required, URA said.

Jalan Besar and Rochor MRT stations are within walking distance.

The buildings are to be adapted for residential or long-stay serviced apartment use (SA2). URA has noted that the site can yield 36 SA2 units, or 18 strata landed houses. SA2 is a pilot format that URA introduced in December 2023 for stays of at least three months. These units sit between hotels and conventional conservation terrace houses, and cannot be strata-subdivided.

Mak noted that the co-living market had “exploded” since 2018, with at least seven operators now in Little India, almost all in condominium or apartment units spread across several buildings.

The tender is part of a wider government effort to repurpose vacant or ageing state properties for housing, and to shape Little India into a mixed-use precinct. The last SA2 tender decision was in October 2024, when URA declined to award the Media Circle site after deeming the sole bid from a Frasers Property-led consortium too low. That 60-year leasehold site was the first GLS parcel designated solely for SA2.

If the buildings are adapted to offer units for sale, each house could sell for about S$3.2 million to S$4 million once fully restored, Mak noted. This could attract buyers as it is priced below comparable conservation terrace houses. Median prices for freehold conservation terrace houses ranged from S$2,985 psf in Geylang to S$5,136 psf in Emerald Hill over the past year, he pointed out.