Property Malaysia

The area around the junction of Jalan Ampang and the MRR2 has seen a bit of a development growth recently. July last year saw a huge Tesco open there, followed soon by some shoplots under construction right next to it. Across the road, there are some new public housing flats, and if you go in through the road in between the towers, it will lead you to the older Taman Dagang and Putra Sulaiman area.

Right in the middle of the low and medium cost flats and existing shoplots, Insas has just launched a commercial project that consists of shoplots and serviced apartments called Ampang Putra Residency. The site is located on Jalan Ampang Putra 6, just down the road from One Ampang Avenue.

On a rectangular piece of land, they are planning 18 units of 3-storey shoplots fronting the main road, and there are two towers of serviced apartments, totalling 367 units. There are two similar towers, but only Tower A is open for sale at the moment.

These shopping area cum serviced apartment concept is experiencing a sort of mini-revival in the city centre recently, with some reviewed by recently are as follows:
Beverly Tower, Plaza Medan Putra
Kuchai Avenue
The Tropics, Tropicana City

And some older ones for comparison:
Axis Residency
K Residence

While here they are shoplots and not really a shopping mall per se, the concept is still quite the same, where the condo residents enjoy the convenience of retail right at their doorstep, while the entire development serves as a vibrant centre of commerce and excitement for the larger area that surrounds it.

There are two mid-height towers of 25 storeys, each has two wings, and are similar in facade but slightly different in layout. The first five floors are taken up by parking area, followed by 18 floors of typical units. The top two floors are reserved for penthouses. We like the fact that it isn’t high density, with only 367 units. Each unit comes with only one parking bay, but additional parking spots are available for RM25,000. Here’s a problem. Most families or renters in a house have at least 2 cars, and this will probably cause the residents to park outside in the commercial area or on the streets around the development. Not good.

There are only 3 typical layouts to choose from, and they are all built up on a rectangular footprint, which some people will find pretty odd, considering the multi-cornered trend of condos available these days.

The studio apartments, look in plan like a parking bay for a large trailer, with its long and narrow footprint. There are four of these in each floor, on the east side of wing, so these units look into the rising sun. Which is kinda strange, coz the larger Type B units then face the setting sun dead on. The studio units are 607sq.ft., comes with a very small kitchen area, and the bedroom is between the living and windows out to the balcony. This makes the living unit a bit stuffy unless you have the airconditioning switched on all the time. However, they have provided an amply large balcony, so some people may prefer to use that as the primary living space ( hey, I would). As a reference, the units is only 14′ wide.

Type B is the larger intermediate unit on the other wing, the one with the illuminating view of the afternoon sun. It’s 1,234sq.ft in size, actually just twice the size and footprint of the studio. There are 3 rooms and two baths, and because of it being an intermediate unit with only one side of open windows, one of bedrooms look into an airwell, as with the kitchen and yard. We didn’t like the layout, we felt it didn’t maximize out the 1200+ sq.ft. with such an odd shape.

Type C, the corner unit at 1,290sq.ft. fares slightly better. But here there is yet another odd feature. A wall line clearly delineates the unit in half along the length of the unit, with the living and dining on one side, and the rooms on the other. Odd, odd, odd. ut then again, if you’ve an eye for fantastic interior decoration (and the money to go with it) these petty little stuff won’t matter to you.

The studio unit costs about RM150-175k, while the other typical units go for about RM256-306k. There are penthouse units for above RM500k. The prices average about RM250psf onwards.

There is not much facilities to speak of, considering the proximity to the shops (which shouldn’t be an excuse really) and around the area. But they have the very basic like security and pool.

The area is a matured township, with lots of older landed units and low to medium cost apartments. There seem to be a ready made market for the commercial lots, and not to mention upgraders to these serviced apartments, or families buying for their children or for investment. Regular readers will note that we don’t really fancy serviced apartments, for obvious reasons, and more so serviced apartments with shopping units below. But here, we like that it’s low density, but not the internal layout. Perhaps more thought should have gone into making it more contemporary and attractive. The pricing is steep, but it is to be expected for somewhere so close to the city center.

Maintenance fee is at 20sen including sinking fund, however please check with the salespeople for the latest info.

The developer is a subsidiary of large corporation with diversified interests. The developer arm, however has another landed project in Bukit Rahman Putra called Putra Residen. More info at their website.