3 Orchard By-the-park
Uploaded from file
Overview & Key Facts
3 Orchard By-The-Park is a 77-unit freehold ultra-luxury development at 3 Orchard Boulevard in District 10, completed in 2017 by YTL Land & Development and designed by Milan-based ACPV Architects — the practice founded by Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel, two-time Compasso d’Oro winners best known for the global Bulgari Hotels & Resorts portfolio. This was Citterio’s first residential project in Southeast Asia, and the design DNA shows: three 25-storey towers named Wood, Wilderness, and Water, each with private-lift access to every unit, a holistic Citterio-designed architecture-interior-furniture-landscape package, and an Arclinea-kitchen / Technogym-fitness specification consistent with the firm’s signature execution standards.
YTL acquired the en-bloc Westwood Apartments site in 2007 for S$435 million — approximately S$2,498 per square foot per plot ratio — setting a new Singapore land-price record at the time, ahead of SC Global’s prior S$2,338 psf ppr benchmark at The Ardmore. The development’s 22 sale transactions on record include a S$31.5 million 5-bedroom penthouse (6,555 sqft, S$4,805 psf, October 2019) — the most expensive penthouse sold in Singapore that year. Average resale prices over the trailing twelve months sit at approximately S$8.6 million / S$3,753 psf, with rental data showing 72 transactions averaging S$14,191 per month. The development swept five categories at the EdgeProp Singapore Excellence Awards 2019, the most for any completed development that year, including Design Excellence, Top Boutique Development, Top Luxury Development, and People’s Choice.
This is a boutique freehold ultra-luxury condominium for UHNW households prioritising design provenance, private-lift exclusivity, and the District 10 Orchard-Botanic-Gardens lifestyle corridor. The buyer profile is narrow but global — UHNW expatriates absorbing the +60% ABSD foreign-buyer surcharge, multi-generational Singaporean family-office buyers, and senior MNC executives at the C-suite price band. The 1.91% gross yield reflects the capital-preservation nature of the asset class; this is not a yield-maximising investment.
Location & Connectivity
3 Orchard Boulevard occupies a quietly privileged stretch of District 10, a few minutes’ walk from the heart of Orchard Road but shielded by mature rain trees (preserved as part of the design brief) and the low-density residential character of the Boulevard itself. The address radiates the settled composure of one of Singapore’s most enduring prime corridors — flanked by the Tanglin GCB belts to the west and the diplomatic enclaves of Nassim and Cluny to the north. Napier MRT (Thomson-East Coast Line) at 0.48 km is a 6–7 minute walk along Orchard Boulevard — one of the strongest MRT-walkability profiles for any ultra-luxury development in District 10.
Orchard Boulevard MRT (Thomson-East Coast Line) at 0.70 km, Orchard MRT (North-South / TEL interchange) at 0.80 km, and Great World MRT (TEL) at 1.35 km add three more rail options within easy reach. The CBD is approximately 10 minutes by car via River Valley Road; Marina Bay 12–15 minutes via Anson Road. Singapore Botanic Gardens — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — sits within an 8–10 minute walk, and ION Orchard / Wheelock Place / Paragon are within a 12–15 minute walk.
Medical infrastructure is a quiet but material part of the value proposition: Camden Medical Centre, Mount Elizabeth, and Gleneagles Hospital are all within a 5–10 minute drive, alongside the specialist clinics clustered along Napier and Orchard Boulevard. Daily-life retail extends from Tanglin Mall and Forum The Shopping Mall (within 5–7 minutes’ walk) to the full Orchard Road retail belt; F&B options range from the Dempsey Hill cluster (5 minutes by car) to the high-end hotel-restaurant cohort along Tanglin Road and Scotts Road.
Schools & Education
1 primary school within the 1 km Priority Phase balloting radius.
| School | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Chatsworth International School (Orchard) | international | Within 1 km |
| Tanglin Secondary School | secondary | Within 1 km |
| Methodist Girls' School | secondary | Within 1 km |
| ISS International School (Paterson) | international | Within 1 km |
| Methodist Girls' School (Primary) | primary | Within 1 km |
| ISS International School (Preston) | international | Within 1 km |
| CHIJ (Kellock) | primary | ~1.1 km |
| St. Anthony's Primary School | primary | ~1.2 km |
Facilities
The facilities programme reflects ACPV’s holistic boutique-luxury approach rather than a maximalist condominium amenity deck. Each of the 77 units accesses its floor via a dedicated private lift — an exclusivity feature that Citterio specifically highlighted in the project’s design rationale. Shared amenities include a Citterio-designed library lounge, multiple swimming pools (with select higher-floor units featuring private balcony pools — the “swimming pools in the sky” marketing language reflects literal pool decks on penthouse and loft balconies, not just communal sky-pools), a Technogym-equipped fitness centre, sky terraces, social-deck balconies on penthouse and loft units (with double-height sliding doors and 4–6.5m ceilings), and concierge service consistent with the boutique luxury hotel-residence positioning. The development holds a BCA Green Mark GoldPLUS certification.
“The private lift makes a real difference in day-to-day living — you go straight from the carpark to your own floor without ever sharing a corridor. The materials, the kitchen, the fittings — you can feel that someone genuinely thought about them. This is not a condo where you compromise on finishes; it’s a Citterio interior at residential scale, and the difference is visible the moment you step out of the lift.”
— Composite resident perspective via Luxuo Citterio profile and Stacked Homes 3 Orchard By-The-Park directory
Unit Sizes & Layout
The 77 units span a full ladder from compact 2-bedroom apartments at approximately 1,066–1,163 sqft up to the two ~6,555 and ~6,900 sqft penthouses, with the bulk of inventory across the 3-bedroom (1,776–2,583 sqft, including 3BR Garden and 3BR Loft formats) and 4-bedroom (2,260–3,800 sqft, including 4BR Loft and Garden Suite formats) bands. Loft and Garden Suite layouts feature double-volume living areas with 4–6.5m ceilings, double-height sliding glass doors onto private terraces, and full-height bookcases / library walls in the Citterio interior pack. The penthouses include private rooftop pool decks; the larger 4BR Garden Suite at ~3,800 sqft was listed at S$15.8 million with a reported S$700,000 owner-led renovation.
| Bedrooms | Transactions | Avg PSF | Avg Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 BR | 2 | $3,328 | $3,709,000 |
| 4 BR | 6 | $3,588 | $6,528,667 |
| 5 BR | 14 | $3,769 | $10,236,744 |
Pricing & Market Position
Based on 22 recorded transactions, sale prices range from $3,518,000 to $14,388,000, averaging $8,632,019 (~$3,753 psf).
Rents range from $6,500 to $33,000 per month across 72 rental transactions. Current rental yield sits at approximately 1.9%.
Price Appreciation
From 2021 to 2025, the average PSF has appreciated by 9.3% (from $3,433 to $3,753 psf).
Neighbourhood Comparison
3 Orchard By-The-Park’s natural competitive set is the District 9/10 freehold ultra-luxury cohort. Boulevard 88 (154 units, freehold, Cuscaden integrated with EDITION hotel) and Park Nova (54 units, freehold, vertical-garden architecture by PLP) compete most directly on the boutique-design-luxury vocabulary; Park Nova’s 54-unit scarcity and PLP’s vertical-garden facade have driven the highest absolute PSF in the segment, while Boulevard 88’s integrated hotel-residence positioning offers a different lifestyle proposition. Le Nouvel Ardmore (43 units, freehold, Jean Nouvel-designed) is now fully sold and serves as a benchmark for design-brand-driven absolute pricing in District 10. Ardmore Park remains the established freehold large-format-unit benchmark in the corridor.
Among current-market alternatives, Cuscaden Reserve (192 units, 99-year, SC Global) and The Avenir (376 units, freehold, GuocoLand) compete on the design-luxury axis at slightly lower absolute price bands but with different scale and tenure profiles. Klimt Cairnhill (138 units, freehold) offers Cairnhill-corridor positioning. The trade-off is genuinely structural: Park Nova for the highest PSF and most extreme boutique scarcity (54 units); Boulevard 88 for hotel-integrated lifestyle; Le Nouvel Ardmore for Jean Nouvel design provenance at fully-sold benchmarking; Ardmore Park for established large-format freehold; 3 Orchard By-The-Park for ACPV / Citterio design integration, MRT walkability (Napier 0.48 km), and the Botanic Gardens-Orchard lifestyle axis at a marginally more accessible 77-unit scale.
| Development | Tenure | TOP | Units | ~Avg PSF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 ORCHARD BY-THE-PARK | — | 77 | $3,753 | |
| SKYE AT HOLLAND | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2024 | 2025 | 666 | $2,945 |
| LEEDON GREEN | Freehold | 2021 | 638 | $2,785 |
| D'LEEDON | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2010 | 2014 | 1,703 | $1,856 |
| HYLL ON HOLLAND | Freehold | 2021 | 319 | $2,648 |
| FOURTH AVENUE RESIDENCES | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2018 | 2021 | 476 | $2,465 |
ShiokNest Scores
Our proprietary scoring system evaluates 3 ORCHARD BY-THE-PARK across multiple dimensions.
What Residents Say
“The Citterio interior is the headline feature. The Arclinea kitchen, the Technogym fittings, the way the lighting and the wood and the metal all work together — you don’t see this level of executed-as-one-package luxury elsewhere in Singapore. It feels designed in the way that a Bulgari hotel is designed, not in the way that a typical condo is designed. That’s the point.”
— Composite owner perspective on the Citterio design package via Luxuo design profile
“Napier MRT is genuinely walkable from here, which is rare at this price point in Singapore. The Botanic Gardens are a 10-minute walk; ION and Paragon are 12 minutes. We use cars and we walk — both options actually work, which is unusual in this part of town.”
— Composite resident perspective on Orchard Boulevard walkability via 99.co project page and EdgeProp resident reviews
“Yield-wise, the maths is what it is at this price level — you don’t buy here for cash flow. The capital story is the freehold land in District 10, the Citterio brand value, and the 77-unit scarcity in a corridor where the comparable freehold supply is genuinely finite. We bought as a 15-year hold and we are comfortable with that.”
— Composite owner-investor perspective on long-hold capital thesis via Stacked Homes 3 Orchard By-The-Park directory
Strengths & Weaknesses
- Freehold tenure in the District 10 Orchard Boulevard ultra-luxury corridor
- ACPV / Antonio Citterio holistic design — first SE-Asia residential project for the firm
- Private lift access to every unit — hotel-residence-grade exclusivity
- Napier MRT (TEL) at 0.48 km — 6–7 minute walk; one of the strongest MRT profiles in the ultra-luxury cohort
- Five MRT stations within 1.5 km (Napier, Orchard Boulevard, Orchard, Great World)
- Singapore Botanic Gardens (UNESCO) within 8–10 minute walk
- Strongest international-school cluster in D10: Chatsworth 0.39 km, ISS Paterson 0.79 km, MGS 0.70–0.85 km
- Arclinea kitchens, Technogym fittings, BCA Green Mark GoldPLUS
- EdgeProp 2019 five-award sweep — most for any completed development that year
- Strong rental dataset (72 records, avg S$14,191/mo) supports liquidity at the rental boundary
- 1.91% gross yield — capital-preservation asset class, not a yield-maximising investment
- Penthouse-tier and full-floor units constrain the resale buyer pool to UHNW global purchasers
- Foreign buyers absorb the +60% ABSD surcharge — a material drag on offshore demand
- Boutique 77-unit scale limits liquidity in a market downturn
- Maintenance fees consistent with luxury hotel-residence specification (premium tier)
- No tennis court / no large clubhouse — facility footprint is design-led rather than maximalist
- Direct competition from Park Nova and Boulevard 88 at higher absolute PSF
Verdict
3 Orchard By-The-Park occupies a clearly defined position in Singapore’s ultra-luxury cohort: a boutique 77-unit freehold development with global design-brand provenance (ACPV / Citterio), a Thomson-East Coast Line-walkable address (Napier MRT 0.48 km), and an EdgeProp 2019 five-award sweep that cemented its reputation across the design-luxury vocabulary. The freehold tenure on Orchard Boulevard, the YTL developer pedigree, and the private-lift architectural posture place this in the top tier of CCR boutique luxury.
The 1.91% gross yield is genuinely thin but is structurally consistent with the asset class — Boulevard 88, Park Nova, Le Nouvel Ardmore, and Cuscaden Reserve all trade at similar yield bands. The investment thesis is capital preservation and long-dated appreciation, with rental income as a secondary kicker. The 22-transaction sale dataset and 72-transaction rental dataset are deeper than is typical for boutique CCR projects of this scale, providing real liquidity at the resale boundary — albeit at price points that limit the buyer pool to UHNW Singaporeans, PRs, and ABSD-absorbing foreign purchasers.
The ShiokNest composite score of 56/100 reflects the trade-offs inherent in any ultra-luxury asset: outstanding neighbourhood credentials and freehold tenure pulled in opposing directions by the modest gross yield, the narrow buyer pool, and the high absolute price points that constrain liquidity in any market downturn. Buyers should treat 3 Orchard By-The-Park as a 10–20 year strategic hold in the District 10 ultra-luxury freehold cohort — a capital-preservation asset with design-grade provenance — rather than a transactional or yield-maximising investment.