The tender for a small cluster of 18 conservation terrace houses in Little India attracted a higher-than-expected number of bids, with a surprising party emerging as the top bidder. We covered this unassuming government land sale (GLS) at Chitty Road and Veerasamy Road when the public tender was launched on March 25. It caught our attention because it offered the chance for new strata landed houses or long-stay apartments in Little India. Considering the other residential GLS sites that the government is offering developers this year, I had expected this 36,672 sq ft site to catch the attention of a handful of local boutique developers. The added complexity of preserving the building’s heritage value would also turn off other potential bidders, or so I had thought. Instead, we saw YK Land submit the top bid of $35.3 million at the close of the tender on July 28. The bid price translates to $962 psf on the site area....