News Releases

31 March 2008

URA launches tender for hotel development at Balestier Road

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) launched the hotel site at Balestier Road for sale by public tender today.

The Land Parcel at Balestier Road is one of the two hotel sites to be launched for sale under confirmed list in the Government Land Sales Programme for the 1st half of 2008.

Balestier Road - Rich in History and a Vibrant Mix of Uses

Balestier Road has an interesting mix of conserved shophouses that were built in the 1840s and modern commercial and residential buildings. The juxtaposition of these heritage shophouses and new buildings creates an interesting streetscape along Balestier Road, displaying its significant past and vibrant present. In recognition of its strong heritage value and distinctive old world charm, Balestier was designated as one of Singapore’s Identity Nodes in URA’s Identity Plan in 2002.

Balestier Road is also known for its delicious local fares, such as Tau Sar Pia and Bak Kut Teh, that are tucked away in shophouses that line the road. Today, many locals and tourists explore Balestier Road to immerse in its historical charms and dine at many of the interesting eating outlets. To enable visitors to enjoy the area better and enhance their walking experience, there are plans by URA to improve the walkways and landscaping along Balestier Road.

The Balestier area is located in close proximity to the commercial, retail and medical hub at Novena, where major shopping malls such as Novena Square, Square 2 and United Square are found. Centrally located, it is also just 10 to 15 minutes drive from the shopping, entertainment and business districts in Orchard Road, Singapore River and Marina Bay.

Opportunity for a Unique Hotel Development

With excellent frontage along Balestier Road, the 1.77 ha Land Parcel is slated for hotel development with a maximum permissible gross floor area (GFA) of about 40,000 sqm. The proposed development shall have at least 60% of the total GFA for hotel and hotel-related uses. The remaining GFA can be for complementary commercial and residential uses. The Land Parcel is located across from the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, a national monument and heritage centre that pays tribute to Dr Sun Yat Sen who led the Chinese Revolution in 1911.

The Land Parcel’s proximity to the Memorial Hall provides a great opportunity to develop a unique hotel development. This hotel development is envisaged to be a distinctive contemporary hotel that draws inspiration from the Chinese culture and architecture of symmetry and geometric forms interspersed with attractive landscaped garden and courtyards.

A 0.46 ha park is included as part of the hotel development. The park will be named “Zhongshan Park” and the developer will be able to capitalise on the park to create a unique garden setting for the hotel and enhance the experience for hotel guests and visitors to the Memorial Hall. The developer is also required to provide a public event space within the park to serve as a venue for the staging of events and activities (see artist’s impressions in Annexes A-1 and A-2). This public event space together, with outdoor refreshment areas and tea pavilions which are allowed in the park (up to 450 sqm gross floor area (GFA) for activity-generating uses), will help to activate and inject greater vibrancy into the park and the surrounding area.

Other Details

Details of the Land Parcel and location plan are given in Annexes A-3, A-4 and A-5. The tender for the hotel site at Balestier Road will close at 12 noon on 16 July 2008. Selection of the successful tenderers will be based on the tendered land prices only.

Given that the site will be a key development along Balestier Road, the development proposal for the site will be subject to review by a Design Advisory Panel to ensure a well designed development of appropriate quality and standard.

Developer’s Packets containing details of the sites, development requirements and conditions of tenders are available at S$105 each (inclusive of GST). These can be purchased from the Customer Service Counter on the 1st Storey of The URA Centre, 45 Maxwell Road, Singapore 069118. The Developer’s Packets can also be purchased via URA-Online at

http://www.ura.gov.sg/sales/sale_of_developer’s_packet.html at a cost of S$105 each (excluding delivery charges) for local and overseas purchases.