Pollux Properties

Pollux Properties: owns Pavilion Square in Geylang Road, which saw all its 93 retail units snapped up on Saturday. Business Times understands that the prices achieved range from $2,000 psf for 3rd-flr units with open terraces and to a whopping $10,879 psf for a 118 st street-fronting F&B unit on the ground floor -- a record price for a retail unit outside the city and the Orchard Road shopping belt. This compares with the highest psf price of $18,000 psf achieved for a prime Level 1 unit in the freehold Lucky Plaza in Orchard Road sold early last year. Besides the $10,879 psf deal, 6 other ground-floor F&B units in Pavilion Square sold at above $10,000 psf. Market watchers said that the buyers are predominantly investors. Pavilion Square's 93 retail units, comprising shops and F&B units, have sizes of between 86 - 926 sf. The majority of the units are between 108 - 129 sf. The retail space sales at Pavilion Square couldn’t be more timely, as on Tuesday, the URA rolled out a min average size of 50 sm (538 sf) for retail units, citing planning reasons. While Pavilion Square's retail units have sold fast, demand has been slower for its apts. Only 15 of the 42 apartments are said to have found buyers, with prices ranging from $1,400 to $1,600 psf. Apt sizes start from 398 sf for a one-bedder; the biggest unit is an 818 sf, two bedroom-plus-study unit. Pollux shares may take cue from Chip Eng Seng, which shares saw keen interest after news that retail units at its Alexandra Central devt (beside Ikea) were sold at btwn $4,000 – 8,000 psf. Pollux purchased the Pavilion Square land site in Dec ‘11 for $25m. The freehold plot has a total land area of 1,350 sm, and has a plot ratio of 3 for commercial devt and 2.8 for residential devt. This translates to a psf land cost of approx $600 psf. At $0.077, Pollux shares trade at 1x P/B. P/E is not meaningful as the co just broke even in 1HFYMar13.