Union Square Residences: Real Space Or Paper Space?

Part 2 of 7, Union Square Residences: The Complete Analysis

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Part 1: The Price Floor · Part 2: The Floor Plan Trap · Part 3: The Pricing Test · Part 4: The Yield Reality · Part 5: The Spine · Part 6: The Exit · Part 7: The Management Reality

Every showflat consultant at Union Square Residences will walk you through the layout on the model. Almost none will hand you the actual area schedule before you commit. The one document that tells you whether your psf is buying liveable space or a household shelter and an air-con ledge dressed up as square footage.

Direct Answer
Union Square Residences spans 366 units across nine configurations, from a 463 sqft 1-bedroom to a single 4,833 sqft penthouse occupying the entire 40th floor. The development's 735,500 sqft GFA came from a 67% uplift on the original Central Mall and Central Square site under URA's Strategic Development Incentive Scheme. Uplift that went into the residential tower itself, not padding out common areas. The real risk sits in the entry-tier units: at 463–550 sqft, a poorly proportioned bay window or an oversized bomb shelter can eat 8–10% of what you're paying full psf for.

• Unit Mix: 1–5BR across 9 layouts
• Entry Size: 463 sqft (1-bedroom)
• Total GFA: 735,500 sqft
• Plot Ratio: 2.8

What the Market Is Telling You

Union Square Residences carries 366 residential units on a site that also holds a 20-storey office block (Union Square Central), a 3-storey co-living and commercial building, and a cluster of conservation shophouses repurposed for retail and co-living use. The residential GFA of roughly 735,500 sqft represents a 67% uplift over the combined GFA of the two buildings it replaced, Central Mall and Central Square, at 441,650 sqft. Achieved through URA's Strategic Development Incentive Scheme, which rewards redevelopment of ageing commercial buildings into mixed-use hubs with additional buildable area. The gross plot ratio on the residential component works out to 2.8.

The nine configurations span the full range a District 1 mixed-use buyer would expect: a 463 sqft 1-bedroom at the entry point, through 2, 3, 4, and 5-bedroom layouts, up to the single 4,833 sqft penthouse that takes the entire 40th floor. CDL's marketing describes squarish and regular layouts designed to optimise space, with smaller units prioritising efficient circulation and larger units carving out distinct living, dining, and work zones.

What the Market Isn't Telling You

Squarish and regular is a showflat description, not a floor-plan guarantee. The layer that actually determines whether your psf buys liveable space is the area schedule. The document that breaks down exactly how much of your unit's stated GFA is bedroom and living area versus bay window, air-con ledge, planter box, or household shelter. This is the same check I'd run on any unit before advising a client to commit, whether it's a Lentor project or a CCR mixed-use tower: the psf you're quoted is calculated on GFA, but you live in liveable area, and the gap between the two numbers is exactly where a well-marketed layout can quietly cost you.

For Union Square specifically, the entry-tier 463 sqft 1-bedroom is the layout worth scrutinising hardest. At that size, a bomb shelter (mandatory under Singapore's Civil Defence Shelter requirements for units above a certain size threshold) or a wide bay window can consume a meaningfully higher share of total area than in a larger unit, simply because there's less total space to absorb it. A 100 sqft household shelter in a 463 sqft unit is over 20% of your footprint; the same shelter in an 850 sqft 2-bedroom is closer to 12%. Mixed-use developments built under an SDI-style uplift also tend to carry more structural columns and service risers through residential floors than a standalone tower, since the podium below is doing double duty for retail and co-living use. Worth checking whether any of the nine layouts place a column inside a bedroom or living space rather than tucked into a wall line.

None of this shows up on a showflat walkthrough, where staged furniture and clever sightlines make every layout look generous. It shows up in the area schedule, cross-checked room by room against the floor plan.

What James Thinks You Should Do

Ask for the area schedule before you ask about the discount. For the 463–550 sqft entry tier specifically, get the exact breakdown of bedroom, living, bay window, and shelter area in square feet, not just the percentage efficiency figure agents like to quote. If the entry 1-bedroom's liveable area comes in meaningfully below 85% of its GFA, that's a layout you're paying full District 1 psf for without getting District 1 space. The larger 3-5 bedroom units and the penthouse carry less of this risk proportionally, simply because a fixed-size shelter and ledge eat a smaller share of a bigger footprint.

James's Note
I don't cover District 1 as my primary corridor. My base is Upper Thomson and Lentor. But the floor-plan-efficiency check is identical everywhere I look. A mixed-use development built under an incentive scheme like SDI carries a slightly different structural logic than a standalone residential tower, because the podium below is shared with office and retail use. That's not a red flag on its own. It's a reason to ask for the area schedule before you ask about anything else, on this project or any other.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the smallest unit at Union Square Residences?
The entry-tier 1-bedroom is 463 sqft, the smallest of nine configurations that run up to a single 4,833 sqft penthouse occupying the full 40th floor.

Why does Union Square have such a large GFA uplift?
The project's 735,500 sqft GFA is a 67% increase over the combined 441,650 sqft of Central Mall and Central Square, the two buildings it replaced, achieved through URA's Strategic Development Incentive Scheme, which rewards redevelopment of ageing commercial sites into mixed-use hubs.

Should I worry about floor plan efficiency in a mixed-use project?
Worth checking more carefully than in a standalone tower. Mixed-use developments built under an incentive scheme often carry more structural columns and service risers through residential floors, since the podium is shared with retail and office use. Ask whether any layout places a column inside a bedroom or living space.

How much space does a household shelter take up in a small unit?
A standard household shelter of roughly 100 sqft represents over 20% of a 463 sqft 1-bedroom's footprint, versus closer to 12% in an 850 sqft 2-bedroom. The smaller the unit, the larger the proportional bite.

What should I ask for before committing to a unit here?
The area schedule showing the exact square footage split between bedroom, living, bay window, and shelter area for your specific layout. Not just the headline efficiency percentage, which can mask a poorly proportioned individual unit.

Get Your Unit's Real Numbers
Want the actual area schedule for a specific Union Square Residences layout checked against what CDL is quoting? I'll run the liveable-area math with you directly. No pitch, just the working.
WhatsApp James. Wa.me/6591111173