HDB has commenced work on flats in Clementi, Toa Payoh, and Bukit Merah that are still not for sale

SINGAPORE: Housing Board Build to Order (BTO), which has not yet announced the sale of hundreds of flats, is building them in Clementi Toa Payoh Bukit Merah.

A total of 753 units are set to sprout onto a land area of about 1.6ha near the intersection of Clementi Avenue 6 and Commonwealth Avenue West, while construction of 741 units is underway on the 1.7ha site at the intersection of Braddell Rise and Toa Payoh Rise. The information is as per checks made by The Straits Times at the respective locations.

HDB received permission from the Building and Construction Authority to start structural works on 1,462 flats located at the Bukit Merah site along Alexandra Road.

Out of the 1,462 units, 964 are part of the Alexandra Peaks project launched in December 2023, while the remaining 498 units will be constructed adjacent to Alexandra Peaks in a development that is not yet launched to be sold.

The brand new Clementi apartments are being built on land that was evacuated in the Selective En bloc Development Scheme (Sers) that was launched in 2005 to revitalize the Clementi Town Centre. Sers allows the Government to renew older estates through the redevelopment of flats on sites with high development potential.

HDB notices that are posted on the site indicate that work started on September 20. The 753 units, which include two-, three and four-room apartments, were to be completed by the first quarter of 2029. The flats are expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2029.

An information panel on-site says that there will be four blocks of residential housing – three 40-storey buildings and one 34-storey block, and a child care centre, a dining house and a minimart. There is also an area pavilion, and an seven-storey carpark that has an outdoor roof garden.

The Clementi flats are likely to be Plus flats as they are outside the central region, but are located about 300m distant from Clementi MRT station and the town center.

In the meantime, work on the 741 units in Toa Payoh started in the middle of 2024 and is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2029.

Two 40-storey towers as well as an all-level carpark, a childcare center, a commercial building and two precinct pavilions according to a signboard at the site, which is located across the road from the upcoming Toa Payoh Ridge BTO project.

First Toa Payoh Primary School had previously occupied the campus that was then re-zoned to housing in the month of February 2023.

The flats could come under the Plus category because they are outside the city centre but are within 300m of Caldecott MRT station, an interchange for the Circle and Thomson-East Coast lines.

It is worth noting that recent four- and five-room resale apartments located in Toa Payoh with locational attributes similar to this one have fetched at least $1 million, it is probable that HDB will have to include significant subsidies into selling prices.

In Bukit Merah, the yet to be announced 498-unit BTO project is scheduled to be constructed near the intersection of Prince Charles Crescent and Alexandra Road. The project will be constructed on the 1.4ha area where Alexandra Post Office used to be located. The office is scheduled to shut in June 2023.

The flats that are being built will probably fall into the Plus category because they are situated near the edges of the city and are just 400m from Redhill MRT Station, which is only a few stops from the Central Business District.

Construction work on the neighbouring Alexandra Peaks project began in June, and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2029, according to an HDB announcement in an adjacent block of flats.

Future residents will be able to use the amenities that are being built in the context of Alexandra Peaks, such as a pre-school, an eating house shop, a minimart and a residents’ network centre.

Prime Flats, which was the precursor to the current Prime flats was the model used to launch Alexandra Peaks.

None of the flats that are scheduled to be built in Clementi, Toa Payoh or Bukit Merah are part of the February 2025 BTO exercise, indicating that they’ll be launched in 2025 or later at the earliest. The exercise in February will include around 5,000 homes in Kallang/Whampoa as well as Queenstown.

The board was working with other government agencies to make the project sites accessible earlier.

Construction begins several months or more than a full year before a project’s launch, which is why flats that have shorter wait times can be provided.

The Pine Ville @ AMK Project which was announced on April 20, will boost the supply of new apartments in Ang Mo Kio. This project replaces 606 residents affected by the Sers project on Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 that was revealed in 2022.

The construction of the 1,068 unit project is ongoing and will be completed in the third quarter 2027. The project will feature two-room flexi, three-room and four-room flats in six blocks.

The project will also have an uni-storey commercial block as well as an eight-storey carpark, which will include kidney dialysis facilities and a centre for children.

Of the 606 homes that were affected by the Sers exercise, 104 been approved for new flats as part of BTO exercises between the months of May and August 2022, HDB said in the past. The pool of applicants for flats in Pine Ville @ AMK will be less.

Sale of Balance Flats, also known as SBF is an annual event that allows the sale of remaining flats.

In February 2025 the next SBF sale will be held in February 2025 and more than 5,500 balance apartments being sold in this largest exercise to date.

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