368 THOMSON (Review)

.
Given the hype surrounding 368 THOMSON, the wife and I decided to go check out the project yesterday morning.


The sales gallery/showflat is located on the actual site at the junction of Thomson and Balestier Road.



368 THOMSON is a freehold development consisting of a single tower of 36-storey with 157 units. It resides on a 60,000sqft plot with a plot ratio of 2.8. The expected TOP of this project is 2015.

The unit types available at 368 THOMSON is fairly straight forward:

• 1 + Study (31 units):  689sqft  - Face Jalan Raja Udang. 
• 2-bedrooms (62 units): 872/883sqft  - Face Thomson Road.
• 3-bedrooms (31 units): 1302sqft  - Diagonally facing Tan Tong Meng Tower & reservoir view.
• 4-bedrooms (31 units): 1722sqft  - Face Balestier Road and City/CBD but supposedly with 270-degree view. Private lift access.
• 5-bedroom penthouses (2 units): 3337/ 3391sqft  

There are 2 vehicular entrances into the condo – one along Thomson Road and the other via Jalan Raja Udang at the back of the condo, which is quite thoughtful and unusual for a small development.

368 THOMSON is marketed as a full-facility condo. However, the facilities are rather basic and are found either on the ground or the “sky terrace” level on the 3rd storey of the condo. Tennis enthusiasts will be largely disappointed as there is no tennis court in this development.


There are a total of 170 parking lots spread over 3 levels – basement, ground and first level.

The only showflat on display was the 1722sqft, 4-bedroom (Type D) unit. This comes with your own private lift lobby and lobby area. 


The first thing that struck us when we enter the showflat was how small the living/dining area looked for a 1722sqft unit. This is a long and rather narrow strip of an area, which looked rather “stingy” and a nightmare in terms of space utilization. However, both the wife and I were impressed by the good quality honed marble flooring provided. It also comes with 2.9m ceiling height.


The balcony is an odd-shaped area big enough to host a mahjong session comfortably. The only complaint we have about the balcony is the round pillar that stands out like a sore thumb in the outer corner. A long row of plant box surrounds the balcony, stretches across one side of the living room and wraps around the lift lobby area.

The unit comes with good-sized wet and dry kitchens. The wet kitchen is good sized and comes equipped with “Hansgrohe” kitchen fittings, “De Dietrich” hob/hood/oven and “Fisher & Paykel” fridge. The developer has even thrown in a “Brandt” wine for good measure. The solid-surface kitchen worktop and gross-finished cabinets have excellent workmanship and very pleasing to the eyes.

The yard area is one of the most generous we have seen for awhile, so you have plenty of space here to do and even hang up your laundry for drying. There is also a back door access through to the common lifts. The utility/maid’s room is, however, a tad small.

The two common bedrooms are tucked at one side of the unit, across from the master bedroom and junior suites. These two rooms are a bit small but regular shaped and comes with good quality wood floorings and wardrobe.

The common bathroom is sandwiched between the two bedrooms and is quite good sized with well thought-out furnishes, e.g. storage compartment behind the bathroom mirror. It also comes with a standing shower stall and “Hansgrohe/Bravat” bathroom and toilet fittings.

The junior suite seems a bit small and has a set of curved bay windows. The attached bathroom is decent sized and comes similarly fitted as the common bathroom.

The master bedroom is adjacent to the junior suite. This is very spacious and comes with one of the best looking set of wardrobe that we have ever seen in a showflat.



The highlight of the unit must be the master bathroom. It comes with a marble “feature wall” that blends well with the marble floor and gives the whole bathroom a very chic look. The furnishing is also well designed - the storage cupboard below the wash basin is actually compartmentalize, i.e. not just a “box with doors” that you normally get with other projects. And we loved the beautiful vanity top and oval-shaped mirror on top of the large rectangular wash-basin. The master bath also comes equipped with a long bath and an adjacent standing (rain) shower stall.


What we like:
• The well though-out designs and excellent quality of furnishings we saw in the showflat of 368 THOMSON, which is probably the best that we have seen since Parvis.

• The spacious yard area that allows you to confine all your laundry chores to.

• There is at least a choice of CHIJ Toa Payoh (for girls) or Balestier Hill Primary (co-ed) for primary schools that are within 1-km of 368 THOMSON.

What we dislike:
• Location – 368 THOMSON is in District 11 but it is located at what the wife and I deemed as the “least desired” part of District 11, i.e. right in front of the busy intersection between Thomson and Balestier Road. This is unless you find the sight and sound of traffic soothing.

• We are rather disappointed with the facility offering, especially when you only have one tower on a 60,000sqft plot. And “sky terrace” on the 3rd storey is kind of an oxymoron.

• The small living/dining area for the 4-bedders.

Pricing wise, following are two units of the 1722sqft 4-bedder that are still available as of yesterday morning:
• #11-05 - $2,312,400 or $1343psf
• #21-05 - $2,436,000 or $1415psf

The monthly maintenance for a 4-bedroom unit is about $496.

The project was opened to the public since last Friday and about 100 of the 120 units released have already been sold. All the 2-bedroom units are fully sold. This is hardly surprising – the developer (CDL) has obviously priced 368 THOMSON to sell, given the competitive pricing for this very high quality project versus other new developments in District 11. The wife and I are still somewhat uneasy about the actual site (i.e. at the intersection between two busy roads) and the unimpressive facility offering within the condo, but we reckon 368 THOMSON will be fully sold within the next 2 months.
.