Kim Keat Heights BTO Virtual Tour is now available! Check out the video below for a quick glimpse of the development. Buying a new flat is a great commitment not only in terms of time but also in monetary terms, which is why it is important to have relevant information to aid us during the research phase. Reading brochures and physical materials can only help us in limited ways. There are many things that we may have missed out known as blindspots. From "whether my neighbour can see what I'm doing in my bedroom?" to "whether my living room view can see the pavilion downstairs?" are some of the many concerns prospective owners may have in mind. This is where the Virtual Tour will come in handy since you can have a surrounding view right from the window of your preferred unit. If you are convinced that the Virtual Tour is right for you, check out the Virtual Tour page for more information!

The Yishun Boardwalk BTO Virtual Tour is now available! Check out the video below for a quick glimpse of the development. Buying a new flat is a great commitment not only in terms of time but also in monetary terms, which is why it is important to have relevant information to aid us during the research phase. Reading brochures and physical materials can only help us in limited ways. There are many things that we may have missed out known as blindspots. From "whether my neighbour can see what I'm doing in my bedroom?" to "whether my living room view can see the pavilion downstairs?" are some of the many concerns prospective owners may have in mind. This is where the Virtual Tour will come in handy since you can have a surrounding view right from the window of your preferred unit. If you are convinced that the Virtual Tour is right for you, check out the Virtual Tour page for more information!

With the recent introduction of more new BTOs closer to city centre and prime locations, we are seeing 2 plots of land being allocated for 2440 units in Bukit Merah. One of it is located beside Redhill MRT Station which previously housed the HDB Viking Estate (though the road 'Viking Road' is no longer in existence and replaced by Alexandra View). The second site is located at Bukit Merah View on top of a small hill. For this location, it previously housed some HDB flats and a row of shophouses. Both these locations are easily accessible by public transport with affordable food options (a.k.a hawker centres) within a 3 minutes walk. Check out the video below as I painstakingly created a 3D model of the surrounding area and as well as a sample 3-Room BTO virtual tour modelled after a recent BTO launch to give you an idea of the proportionality and size of new generation BTO that we are going to expect.

Hello everyone. Do you wish to see how your future BTO unit looks like in the virtual world? Is your potential home facing the multi-purpose hall, pavilion, playground or the rubbish collection centre? Can your neighbour or strangers see your home interior from the corridor? Fret not because I have modelled a full estate with pretty high details that I'm sure will be able to address all these doubts by allowing potential home owners the chance to view their preferred units through the windows and main door. Click here for more information.

New extension to existing Northshore Plaza I on the first day of opening Top down view of Northshore Plaza II, where its surrounding is still packed with some construction works during the first day of operation. Following the opening of Northshore Plaza I on 25 October 2021, the new extension which is known as Northshore Plaza II has opened on 21 January 2022. The section of the plaza will lead to the shoreline where the sea view can be seen. Plaza II is linked to Plaza I across the road with an overhead bridge. While the number of stores in Plaza II is less than those in Plaza I, there are a few globally recognisable stores in this part of the building such as A&W and Daiso. There is also a food court (which is still under renovation at the point of writing) located at the very end of the plaza. These are some of the shops that are housed in Northshore Plaza II according to this promotional board. Situated in a neighbourhood and apartments adjacent to it, it is therefore logical to set up a linkbridge for these residents as well isn't it? Now, that's an A&W just at the doorstep for some of these residents. We can see that most of the shops here are food establishments, which resonates the actual reality around the Northshore area because since it is a new housing neighbourhood, there are not much food options available and the Northshore Plazas serve as the only convenient place for residents to get their daily necessities (1 supermarket in Plaza I) and fill their stomachs. The concept of Plaza II is to create an open and spacious environment for people to mingle. As you can see the walkways are very wide and there are even tiers of seats facing an open field with a children's playground and the open sea. These big fans on the roof keeps the non air-conditioned plaza well ventilated during a sunny day. As it is still the beginning of operation for Northshore Plaza II, many shops are still understandably in the midst of renovation. Northshore Plaza II is located at the very end of Punggol. You can reach there using by alighting at Samudera LRT Station. There are also buses departing from Punggol Bus Interchange that ply through Northshore Plaza I and II. Videos Click on the video below if you wish to see more and enjoy the calmness in Northshore Plaza II during its first hour of opening to the public. Key information at a glance

A new underpass linking Funan Mall and City Hall MRT Station I am sure many of us had the thought of giving up going to Funan Mall from City Hall MRT Station during rainy days. However fret not! A new underpass linking Funan Mall and City Hall MRT Station has opened on 21 December 2021. This futuristic looking underpass allows pedestrians to bypass the Peninsular Plaza to reach Funan Mall no matter rain or shine. To use this underpass, users need to go to basement 2 of Capitol Singapore which is also linked to City Hall MRT Station. Just take the exit towards St Andrew's Cathedral but instead of riding the escalator up to street level, take the underground linkway to Capitol Singapore. When in Capitol Singapore, just walk straight all the way and keep left and you will see the safe-entry turnstiles shown below. The new underpass is a 100 meters straight stretch between Capitol Singapore and basement 2 of Funan Mall. Exit through the turnstile to access the underpass. The underpass is fully air-conditioned and does not have any permanent retail stores. Light background music were played and different digital artworks were projected onto both sides of the wall. The walk will take less than 2 minutes from one end to another. And here we have reached Funan without a sweat! Related Videos You may catch the video below to experience the walk from Capitol Singapore to Funan. Key information at a glance

SkyOasis@Dawson with Commonwealth Drive seen at the back The SkyOasis@Dawson is another Selective En-Bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) project undertaken by the HDB to relocate Tanglin Halt residents. The location is just a stone throw away from Queenstown MRT station and sits on the plot of land previously occupied by Queenstown Community Centre in the 2000s. This site is also known as Dawson Site B. While SkyOasis@Dawson did not boast the magnitude and size of the neighbouring SkyResidences@Dawson, it embodies all the traits of recent flats built by the housing agency HDB. There is a total of 6 blocks in this estate, consisting of facilities such as central courtyard with playground and fitness corners. Also situated at mid-levels of the blocks is the sky garden where residents can catch a good view of the surrounding landscape. As SkyOasis is not as majestic as neighbouring SkyResidence and SkyVille, and does not have a roof garden, I feel that there is more privacy here. The sky gardens are pretty simple with seating areas and some of them equipped with fitness equipment. There are no sky bridges linking these gardens between the different blocks. Nearby public amenities include Queenstown Public Library (3 minutes walk), Stadium and swimming complex (7 minutes walk) and Queenstown MRT Station (5 minutes walk). The upcoming hawker centre and commercial complex (which is still under construction at the point of writing) across the street within SkyResidence will provide the residents here with more self-sufficiency as there are no malls or hawker centre around this area. The nearest hawker centre is at Mei Ling Street (about 15 minutes walk) and Dawson neighbourhood plaza (also about 15 minutes walk). A bus stop is located at the foot of the estate along Margaret Drive where buses will ply through nearby Redhill and Commonwealth MRT stations. On the other side of the estate along Commonwealth Avenue, the nearest bus stop will be located just below Queenstown MRT Station with buses to the city. Queenstown MRT Station can be seen in the image below in blue. A multi-storey carpark with a roof garden serves the residents here. Apparently, there is also an underground carpark in the standalone commercial building that will house child care centre and other businesses. The view from the highest level is not the greatest as the estate is surrounded by very tall buildings except units facing the North. We can see the cranes at Pasir Panjang Port in the far facing the South direction. This is the South-Eastern direction where cranes at Keppel port can be seen in the far. The view above is in the Northern direction. The hill in the far is none other than Bukit Timah Hill. Below are some of photos showing the different locations around the estate. A typical lift landing in one of the blocks. A common rubbish and recycling chute on every floor. Bicycle racks installed around the estate at the void deck areas. A sheltered vehicle drop-off point. One of the 2 vehicular entrances to the estate along Margaret Drive. Also, the Alexandra linear park which is a long stretch of pavement that links Queenstown to as far as Clarke Quay can be found just beside the estate. This path is usually utilised by residents for exercising and is one of the path to Queenstown MRT station. Videos If you would like to see more of the estate, be sure to check out the video tour below. Key information at a glance

A new Beginning for Tanglin Halt Residents SkyResidences@Dawson overseeing Queenstown Stadium The SkyResidences@Dawson is the latest mega residential project in Queenstown, along Margaret Drive. The previous mega project was SkyVille@Dawson which is just a few blocks away. It consists of 8 residential blocks with sky gardens in the mid-levels of each block. This development is largely catered the to relocation of nearby Tanglin Halt residents as the area will be repossessed by the authorities for redevelopment. In fact there are a few other areas within Queenstown that were built for this purpose, such as Dawson Vista, SkyParc@Dawson, SkyOasis@Dawson and Forfar Heights. So you can imagine the number of residents being affected by this mega project! By the way this development is also known as Dawson Site A. One of the most important feature of SkyResidences@Dawson is that these sky gardens are linked together by sky bridges and some of them are open roof. A look at the sky-gardens at the mid-levels. These sky gardens are linked together with sky bridges. Just like all the new housing developments in Singapore in recent years, these sky gardens are equipped with fitness facilities and also seating areas for residents to chill out. An open roof sky garden with fitness facilities. An open roof seating area with an unobstructed view of the skyline. Since these sky gardens are located at quite a height compared to neighbouring older estates with roughly less than 20 storeys, it is not hard to get an unobstructed view of the surrounding areas. In the far, you can actually see the container cranes at Pasir Panjang Port. It is located very close to Queenstown MRT station (the blue building as shown below) with just roughly 5 minutes of slow walk. There is also no lack of public facilities nearby such as Queenstown Stadium and Swimming Complex. A view from sky garden. Another view from the sky garden in the Northern direction. Also within the development at SkyResidences@Dawson, there will be commercial spaces for retail shops and a multi-storey hawker centre (just like Taman Jurong Food Centre) which is pretty rare considering new housing developments do not usually come with hawker centres. The best one can get are probably coffee shops. This building you see here was previously a market and has been conserved, which will see it being revitalised as a commercial retail building. The 5-storey building that is behind will be the hawker centre. This round circular building will house community services. Located opposite the estate is Queenstown Public Library, which is Singapore's oldest public library after the demolition of Central Lending Library @ Stamford Road. Besides the sky garden, there will also be a 'gym' at the lower floors with fitness facilities. Just like the skybridges, this floor is also linked between the blocks for easy access. I believe these facilities are housed on a dedicated floor in SkyResidences@Dawson rather than a courtyard are due to land scarcity, and also majority of the residents are old folks which allow them to exercise and mingle around with friends no matter rain or shine. There is also no lack of seats in the void decks. These bicycle racks are quite limited since residents in Queenstown rely more on the well developed public transportation rather than bicycle due to its close proximity to town area and not much recreational place in the vicinity for cycling. Common rubbish and recycling chutes are located near to the lift landings located on every floor. Nothing fanciful about the letter boxes here which is located close to the lift landings at the void deck. A common lift landing. Besides the nearby Queenstown MRT Station, there are 2 bus-stops situated just a few steps away from the estate. The one you see below is along Margaret Drive and another one along Commonwealth Ave. Buses in both bus stops will ply through nearby MRT stations such as Queenstown, Commonwealth and Redhill. As for car owners, there will be 2 multi-storey carparks available in the estate and both entrance/exit points are along Margaret Drive. Lastly we will end our post with a look at the roof garden located at the top of the multi-storey carpark. While the garden is too hot to visit during the daytime, I'm sure it will be a pleasant experience during the evenings. What's more? There's a garden swing here! Videos If you would like to see more of the estate, be sure to check out the video tour below. Key information at a glance

A new BTO in Queenstown after 12 years Queen's Arc will be built on this plot of empty land and expected to be ready in 2027. The last Build-To-Order (BTO) project in Queenstown was probably close to a decade ago until the announcement to build Queen's Arc in August 2021 under the BTO scheme. The previous BTO projects are located at Dawson Road called SkyVille and SkyTerraces where their sales launches were held in 2009. Below are 2 aerial shots taken at about 50m height at the current Queen's Arc empty plot of land. Do take a look at the video in the bottom page for more aerial footages. The location of Queen's Arc is slightly odd as the area has been inhabited for almost 3 decades. Before that, there were public housing available but were demolished in the 1990s. Ever since then, the plot of land has been in derelict. An old photograph of the houses around Queen's Crescent. Old maps showing that the houses around Queen's Arc were gone in 1993. Time stood still since the 1990s. The place is overgrown and forgotten An old and broken street lamp. It is located just beside 2 public service departments mainly Alexandra Hospital and the Home Team (Queenstown Neighbourhood Police Centre & Fire Station). Hearing sirens will be a common occurrence not to be alarmed with. Also located just beside the previous KTM railways is a mosque. The KTM railway has been dismantled and is now converted to a green railway which means theoretically you can actually walk all the way to Woodlands Checkpoint. A police and fire station is located next door. This stretch of path was once the KTM railway and now converted to a green corridor. While the area is most likely to be associated with nearby Alexandra shopping strip where IKEA, Queensway Shopping Centre, Anchorpoint and a new Hotel with Alexandra Central Mall, it was reported that the area around Queen's Arc will also be developed progressively. A short 5 minutes walk is all that is needed to reach Queensway Shopping Centre. Although located close to the central district of Singapore, the area is by no means very accessible. In fact it is located a good 20-25 minutes walk from Queenstown or Commonwealth MRT Stations. However there are lots of bus services available that will ply through these two stations along Queensway, from the bus stop located just outside Queen's Arc. The bus duration to either of these stations will take approximately 5 minutes. A map showing the walking path from Queen's Arc to the nearest MRT Station. This bus stop along Queensway will be the one located just outside of Queen's Arc. Located just beside one of the arterial roads in Queenstown, noise pollution should be taken into consideration. The stretch of road along Queensway will get congested during the morning hours and evenings. Outside of these timings, fast moving vehicles may generate certain level of noise. While I do not have a definite noise gauge for this, I will infer from what I experienced when I was at the 43rd storey of Forfar Heights (which is situated at the junction of Alexandra Road and Commonwealth Road). Even at that height, I could still feel and hear the hustle and bustle of the traffic at ground level. This stretch of road towards Bukit Merah will get congested during morning peak hours. Car owners will be delighted to know that the expressway (AYE) is located just beside Queen's Arc and there are many petrol kiosks located in the vicinity with 2 directly opposite the estate (SPC and Esso). In terms of food, there are plenty of affordable options to choose from at nearby hawker centres. The nearest one is at Mei Chin Road which is just a 5 minutes walk away. The other two - ABC Brickworks and Alexandra Village will require between 10 - 15 minutes walk. Mei Chin Market and Food Centre. ABC Brickworks Market and Food Centre. Alexandra Village Food Centre. Well, 2027 is definitely a long wait considering most BTO projects are completed around 4~ 5 year mark from sales launch. There will be more updates in the future including videos of the construction progress, so do remember to bookmark our website and subscribe to our Youtube Channel by clicking HERE if you want to get the latest information. Related Videos Check out the video preview of Queen's Arc from the view of a 20-year resident around the area. Aerial view of empty land before construction of Queen's Arc begins in January 2022. Key information at a glance

Waking up to a Seaview Garden and apartments overseeing the Straits of Johor Literally a stone's throw away from the sea The Northshore StraitsView BTO public housing project is one of the very few, if not the only one of two in Singapore that is the closest to the shore line. Another neighbouring project - Northshore Waterfront I & II lies along the same stretch of coastline as the former. Of course the attraction of the estate is non other than the sky gardens. These sky gardens are located at most of the blocks and some of them have an unobstructed view of the sea. Limited seats are available at these sky gardens. Most of these sky gardens are open air except one which is sheltered at block 421B. Malaysia's Johor Bahru, specifically Pasir Gudang can be seen from the sky garden. If you have not heard of Pasir Gudang, it is actually an industrial region packed with all sorts of factories, similar to our Jurong industrial area. There have been reports of abnormal smell during some days of the year. I guess that's the downside of living close to industrial areas. During my visit on a quiet weekday evening, I could hear feint prayers from the opposite JB side supposedly from a mosque. There is a main sheltered 4.5m high drop-off point once you enter the estate with some stone benches installed for residents to take a rest while waiting. Bicycle stations at the void decks Letter Boxes Seats located at void decks The parking payment system here is slightly different from the normal carparks that we are used to - a barrier-free entrance and exit! No more worries if you do not have enough money in your cashcard or encounter a "uncooperative" faulty barrier. It works by allowing motorists to either pay in the normal way by placing their cashcard into their vehicle's IU or they can simply drive through and pay through using the parking.sg app after the system has registered your exit. Carpark here is located underground in the center of the estate and is pretty small. It is equipped with lots occupancy sensors which will provide lots availability at the entrance of the estate. How coincidental is that? 421 lots available just beside block 421A. Many of the carparks in the Northshore area do not have free parking during Sundays and Public Holidays, including this one at Northshore StraitsView. Just above the underground carpark is a garden with playground, fitness stations and pavilions. Neighbouring Amenities Situated at the northern area of Punggol, the Northshore StraitsView is not strategically located and public transportation is limited by only a handful of bus services and the Punggol LRT line. The nearest LRT station (Punggol Point) is about a 5 minutes un-sheltered walk away. There is a bus-stop in front of the estate serving the residents which terminates at the Punggol Bus Interchange. A neighbourhood primary school is located just opposite the estate. While the estate is pretty far away from Central Singapore and a few LRT stops away from Central Punggol, there is a newly opened neighbourhood Northshore Plaza, just 100 meters away. There you can find a 24 hour supermarket, established fast food restaurants and eateries, and as well as departmental stores (such as Decathlon). Videos If you would like to see more, be sure to check out the video of Northshore StraitsView below! Key information at a glance

Do you remember when was the last time you step foot on an 'old school' chalet in Singapore? Pool view of Costa Sands Resort @ Sentosa An affordable resort on Sentosa Island for all ages And the story continues... The Costa Sands Resort @ Sentosa was not your usual 4- or 5-star hotel. It was actually a chalet where large groups of people gather for BBQ sessions, and a common place for organising class gatherings during school holidays. In the past, there was a handful of such chalets in main land Singapore. The most well-known was NTUC Resort at Pasir Ris (which has been revamped and now known as D'Resort Downtown East). There was also Goldkist Beach Resort @ East Coast Park (permanently closed) and Costa Sands @ Pasir Ris (currently known as Cherryloft Resort). Costa Sands Resort @ Sentosa was the only chalet situated off the main land, on asmall southern island called Sentosa. To get to this chalet was no easy feat because it was located quite a distance away from the Sentosa monorail station and bus stop as you can see from the map below. If you had the luxury of getting to the chalet with a private vehicle, then this was probably what you would see along the way. The unique thing about this chalet was its offering of the 'kampung hut' rooms, which was essentially a small room made up of wooden structure with 2 double decker beds in it. While the room was air-conditioned, that was just about it. No TV, fridge and bathroom. Shared common bathrooms were available for users living in these kampung huts. What makes it even more interesting was the possibility of finding unwanted guests such as big lizards or spiders in your room as they crept through some small openings between the derelict wooden structures. At a nightly rate of around SG$30 for 4 sleepers, I must admit that it was a steal! On the other hand, the normal guest rooms were much comfortable compared to the kampung huts. With full-sized beds, TV, fridge, microwave oven and attached bathroom, the nightly rate was around SG$90. There were not much entertainment options within the chalet itself. As far as I can recall, there was a restaurant and a few outdated arcade machines such as Initial D racing cabinets, street basketball shooters and some pretty old kiddy rides from the 90s. I have documented the final days of the chalet in the video below and was glad to be among the last few customers of this historic old school chalet. Enjoy! Videos Check out the video below of Costa Sands Resort @ Sentosa during its final day of operation!

The demise of Singapore's First Hypermarket A look during its final day of operation in Singapore In memory of Singapore's First Hypermarket - Carrefour Suntec City Mall And the story continues... Some 20 years ago in the late 1990s, the thought of having a hyper supermarket (or hypermart in short) in a small city state like Singapore seemed doomed for failure. Even our home-grown supermarket leader did not believe in this concept at that time. Just in case you have no idea what a hypermart is, it is basically just a normal supermarket combined with a departmental store where customers can shop for their groceries and other things such as electronic appliances, clothings, toys etc, albeit less variety than a standalone department store and they usually occupy a larger retail space too. Lo and behold in 1997, French retailer Carrefour became the first to introduce the concept of a hypermart in Singapore and opened its first store in Suntec City Mall. It then opened its 2nd store at Plaza Singapura. Not long after in 2000, Giant (another supermarket retailer) followed suit. Fairprice entered the hypermart market in 2007 under the branding of "Fairprice Xtra". I had fond memories of shopping at Carrefour Suntec. The very long travellator at the very end of the store of each level, the CD section with CD players and headphones for customers to try out the different albums. Each small section was like a mini department store specialising in their own niche. I can spend half a day there without actually spending a dime! The long travellator inside the supermarket between level 1 and level 2 near the groceries area. Books section on level 2. Cashier at level 1 seen from the escalator. However all good things eventually came to an end in 2012 when Carrefour officially exited the Singapore market and in the Southeast Asia region. While I did not have the capacity to stop Carrefour from exiting Singapore, the only thing that I could do was to equip myself with my powerful 8 megapixel phone camera in year 2012 (which was actually a Galaxy S2) and headed down to snap some photos during its final day of operation. Below are some of the photos that I have taken and I hope it does bring back some good memories among us. Frozen displays on level 1. Price checker installed around the supermarket. Fruits section at level 1. Bicycle and sports section on level 2. Most of the items were cleared for closing down. Toys section just opposite the bicycle section. The electronics section on level 2 where TVs, PCs and DVD players were sold with a service counter. Home appliances section just beside the electronics section. Another side of the home appliances section. Most of the goods were cleared and area cordoned off. And that's all folks! Hope this post have revived some of your good old memories and shopping experiences at Carrefour Singapore at Suntec City!