SINGAPORE, May 24 — Hong Kong gaming tycoon Stanley Ho has bought a prime land site off Singapore’s famed Orchard Road shopping belt, in the first transaction of a redevelopment site for a hotel in this location in more than a decade.

Shun Tak Real Estate (Singapore) Pte, a subsidiary of Hong-Kong-listed Shun Tak Holdings Ltd, bought the plot for S$145 million (RM431 million), according to a statement from Jones Lang LaSalle Inc, which brokered the deal through a public tender.

The sellers, who were not identified in the statement, were expecting offers in the region of S$160 million to S$170 million, the broker had said in April when it put the site up for tender. The valuation report pegged the value at S$131 million, according to a Shun Tak filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday.

Stanley Ho is the founder of Shun Tak, a property and transportation conglomerate he set up in 1972.

The price works out to about S$2,145 per square foot per plot ratio, after factoring in an additional S$87 million that would be needed to develop the hotel. The site is flanked by The St Regis Singapore and Four Seasons Hotel, and is located within a prestigious enclave about 200 meters (656 feet) off Orchard Road.

The property, with a land area of 2,391 square metres, is zoned for a hotel development, but the Urban Redevelopment Authority has said it is also prepared to consider a proposal for a residential project, according to the statement.

The plot was sold by the trustees of the estate of the late owner, who purchased it in the 1950s, Jones Lang said. — Bloomberg