Property Malaysia

When an associate of ours went to see this site some months back due their preview launch for registrants, her first reaction when she came back was “It’s SO FAR!” (she stays somewhere in PJ). Well, distance is a relative thing, but for most of Klang Valley folks, Sg. Long IS far, unless you stay in Cheras and beyond.

But this is one project we’ve been keeping tabs on for a long time, our preview of the project in Property Malaysia was more than a year ago (you can see it here). But to be frank, we know the people working on the project behind the scenes well, and they’ve been working hard on this project for some time even before that.

Let’s talk about the location first. Twin Palms is location on both sides of the Sungai Long toll plaza along the Kajang-SILK highway. On the Kajang-bound direction is where the bungalow phases are located, while on the opposite site, the KL-bound direction is where the super-link and semi-detached homes are located. Altogether, there are 126 acres of freehold land to work with here, with an estimated gross development value (GDV) of over RM800million. This represents a huge financial investment for the development, but it also represents a massive opportunity to turn this piece of forested area into the premier upmarket district with its distinct style in the Cheras and Sg. Long area, and in the process, propelling the company into the big leagues with the potential financial rewards.

There are many ways to get to the development, and you can see that from the location map. But the way that we chose from the straight way from Mines Resort straight on the complete Kajang-SILK highway, turning off before the toll plaza. The turn off is a little obscure, so you need to watch out for it carefully, or else it will be a costly mistake to the toll. There are entrances from both sides of the highway, both also just before the toll booths.

The site is quite hilly, but over the course of more than a year, they have done extensive earthworks and infrastructure works at the site to the current platform level, and the construction of the homes can proceed henceforth. The infrastructure work also involved an underpass under the highway linking the two parcels of land on either side. The site is at the edge of Bandar Baru Sungai Long, and further beyond it is still undeveloped, so for a few years you can still enjoy relative peace and a good view around here. But of course, there is the highway, and with success of this development will most definitely bring other follow on project by other developers, especially when the infrastructure and amenities are in place. But we would think this would not happen for at least 2 years after the completion of the pilot phase.

Lum Chang has gone for the upmarket niche market – no medium cost, no apartments, no linkhomes. All upmarket designs and certainly upmarket tastes. There are altogether just over 600 homes here, which is very low density considering the massive land available, so they have taken great pains and a little sacrifice to make it exclusive, in an effort to maintain the image and prestige of each home here. In their masterplan, they have 66 super links, 308 semi-detached villas and 229 bungalows.

At the moment, the phases open for sale is Phase1A Palmyra, a superlink home series, and Phase 1B Areca, a semi-detached phase. When we viewed the site, only the Palmyra show unit was ready for viewing, the Areca show house was a few weeks away from completion.

Palmyra is a two-storey superlink home on a 26’ x 80’ plot, with the build-up from 2,827 to 3,423sq.ft. The larger build-up are for the corner units with additional space at the side. For the intermediate unit, it felt pretty cramped on our first impression upon entering the unit, even though it was in the excess of 2,800sq.ft. It took us awhile to figure out why, it was because of a few factors, like the large space allocated by the dry and wet kitchen plus the maid’s room. Then there is also a courtyard in the unit, which I think will most people will renovate it to make the dining are bigger. The other thing was that the staircase dominated the view in the living room, and the brickwall balustrade gives a hefty look to it, there is no escaping it when you first enter the home.

The first floor has a very narrow walkway linking all the rooms, just enough for one person, and this adds to the perception of crampness, although all the rooms have much larger space and intelligent design. The reason for the perception is the void over the courtyard, which actually gives a view to the higher floor.

For Areca, the semi-D unit, it has the same look and feel to it, but of course much more space, with the build-up at 3,600sq.ft. onwards.

From these two unit types, we would say they’ve taken a calculated decision to go a different route for the layout design, something which is very different from the prevailing design norm of the competition. We think it is good, certain people may prefer the open concept of more usable space, but this is entirely down to personal tastes.

Besides being gated and guarded, there is also a clubhouse with an infinity pool, wading and children’s pool, water features, food and beverage outlets, convenience centre, reading room, sauna and jacuzzi, poolside cafe and sports facilities. When you have ample land to work with, you don’t need to skimp on these facilities, that’s where they have to edge to other landlocked development. About 7 acres of the development will be turned into woodland with jungle trekking activities and an observation deck mounted on the highest point where one can have a breathtaking view of the surroundings.

Palmyra starts at RM565k, while the bigger Areca starts from RM900k.

Do we like it? Yes we do, and the price, although hefty, is well justified. We see it as an opportunity to grab the pilot phase of a development that has great potential to be successful, future phases will definitely have a premium attached to it, as with any other projects of this scale. We are not crazy about the location, but you can find this kind of land anywhere within the city, but you can easily go onto the highway. We are not fully sold on the internal layout design, but as we said, personal preferences.

Having said that, we are looking forward to see the future phases that will be gradually launched in the near future.

Lum Chang has been long in the business, they are embarking on a new phase of business rebranding. This project represents a new direction of upmarket niche homes for them. Interesting thing to note – all the phases in this project are acrostically named to form the words ‘Twin Palm’. Early next year Lum Chang will be launching Twin Palms Kemensah, another project with an almost similar theme near Kemensah Heights in Ulu Kelang.

The next time you see a small white signboard about the size of a white board, located at the edge of an empty piece of land, read it. If it is a ‘notis pemberitahuan’, then that would be a notice board required by any developer who wishes to developer any piece of land. The purpose of this little notice board is to notify the residents living around the proposed site of the following:

• The submission that has been put forth to the local authority;
• The file number of the submission, and brief details like number of units, type of development and number of storeys the buildings have;
• That residents have the right to put in the objection to the local authority if they wish to do so. There is usually a grace period for this, most council put it at 2 weeks;
• The name and address of the developer.

While the size of notice board is standard, a lot of people fail to notice it much less pay attention to it, which means the grace period for recording any objections, passes without fuss. Some local councils actually send the similar notice to neighbors by mail.

The thing to note that this notice board is NOT the same as the project signboard. The project signboard is erected after all approvals have been obtained and the developer starts work.

This whole thing is significant because usually when the planning, building plan and earthwork approval is given to the developer, and when their contractors start work, it is only then when the residents around the neighborhood start protesting. While the residents have every right and recourse to object, the local council usually will not stop the development because the approval has been given – unless it comes from a higher authority like the MB or a federal agency. But in most cases, the council would have deemed that they have studied the development from all aspects during the building plan stage, including getting approval from 14 different technical departments like JKR, JPS, IKRAM and JMG.

We’re not saying that residents can’t object at any one time to protect their rights. The point is this – object BEFORE the project is approved. You have higher chance of succeeding.

What happens if you object? Well, we will cover that in the next article… when we get round to writing it.

Recently we’ve been seeing ads in the papers and buntings along the highway announcing the Lakeside Terrace@Mutiara Puchong. We thought we saw the phrase ‘new phase’ somewhere in there, so we decided to make a trip there on fine Sunday afternoon.

Unfortunately, after seeing the place, we realized that it isn’t really a new phase, just the remainder units of the last phase launched some two years ago, and which we had already reviewed. You can read the review here.

Rather than waste a good trip there, we decided to drive round the neighbourhood to see how it turned out compared when we saw the development during launch prior to construction.

Taman Mutiara Puchong (TMP) is usually known as the the development ‘behind Tesco Puchong’ more because that hypermarket is an easily seen landmark along the LDP. There are altogether 3 phases in TMP, within each phase there are usually different sub-phase like 2A, 2B, 3A & 3B. Most of the units here are 2 storey linkhomes, except for a couple of rows where there are 2 and a half storey.

The marketing of the placed centred on the good location which is near the commercial area and easy access to the LDP, but the light industrial area that we noted 2 years ago still stands as it is, and we were thinking that the developers should plant some bushy trees along the road reserve to treat the view to and from the entrance. Another point of the marketing was of course the lake, and the 4-acre park along with it.

The one thing that struck us our earlier review, which has become painfully more obvious now 2 years later is that the design looks slightly dated when compared to the new launches. While the standard pitched roof traditional look has not gone out of style even with the advent of contemporary design, a lot of the architectural features show its age - the angled wall at the master with the french casement windows, the MS railing, the layout.

But here, you can move in to the completed unit upon purchase. Besides this, the developer is offering a car for every purchase. What would you read into this? I dunno, but if i were one of the earlier buyers that help finance the project, i’d feel a little slighted!

But anyway…

As our capital city continues to expand wider and higher to cater for more skyscraping condominiums, the divide between the haves and have-nots is becoming more and more noticeable.

Perhaps it is something to be expected - our city is an old one, there plenty of old neighbourhoods with aging shophouses and urban villages that once housed the thousands of immigrants from the rural areas looking for employment back in the 60’s and 70’s.

But now, a new breed of towers have appeared around the KLCC, perhaps a sign of a deeping divide in the city. This of course is not an issue peculiar to KL, most other third world country face this reality too.

This photo is from Paraisópolis favela, Morumbi, Sao Paulo in Brazil.

The second photo is another view of the divide, taken from the side of the shanty town.

This two photos below, are in the Venezuela capital, Caracas.

The same location as seen from Google Earth.

This last set is taken from Dharavi, Mumbai in India.

Note the homes built on the small hillock.

The same hillock from Google Earth.

Photos and write-up are from deputy-dog.com.

Reader Eddie has sent us some site progress pics of USJ1 Avenue. Thanks, mate. The original review is found here. Very sorry for the delay, we thought we lost the mail with the attachment!

Anyway the condo looks nearing completion and i think the buyers are looking forward to moving in soon.

Reader Andrew has sent in photos of the recently launched phase in Bandar Kinrara called Spektra.

Both are pictures of Type A of Spektra. The original review can be found here.

Seems like it’s taken with a camera phone… but we appreciate any photos from our readers…

Yesterday we decided to drop by this project on its launch day, and we were indeed pleasantly surprised. We didn’t know anything about it except from what we learnt from the advertisement in the newspapers.

Finding it wasn’t a problem. The project is situated in Taman Yarl (hence the name) in the OUG area. They recommend the way of Old Klang Road at Plaza OUG, then two right turns and you will see the completed condo on your right. We actually came via the other way from Petaling Jaya through Taman Tan Yew Lai, since this area is filled with small interconnecting roads that is characteristic of the many adjacent housing developments.

Yes, this is a completed project. It is a Build-then-Sell (BTS) development, where you can buy the unit, plonk in the downpayment, and move in soon after. There are quite a few of BTS projects around, but this has the distinction of being the first to be reviewed here in Property Malaysia.

Why BTS? Because the developer can, that’s why. UOA are big time players, they can afford to do it for the benefit of the buyers, something most small and medium developers can’t do. Or won’t do even if they have the means to, after weighing in the risks. But the payback is enormous. Buyers can see the actual product that they will getting, somewhat like shopping for a second-hand unit, except that this a brand new home. Besides that, they absolutely no worry that the project will not be completed or abandoned, because it’s, like, completed, you know…

Anyway, completed or not, the project has a beautiful concept that is executed well. It is a bungalow project with strata title, and is build with a resort-style villa concept that is appealing and different. The parking is on a sub-basement akin to a condo project, but you are actually parking below your unit, where you can walk in straight to your unit like in a normal landed unit, or you can take the common access staircase which will bring you to the common facilities area.

The common facilities floor is actual the ground floor of all the units, except you can’t drive and park here. The porch and front garden of all the units are integrated into one large landscaped area, with cobbled walkway and trimmed hedges. Here you’ll find the function room, gym, wading pool and infinity pool. Strangely enough, this ‘infinity’ pool is a very small pool, stretching the definition of the word by a long stretch. The common podium also overlooks into a large koi pond at the carpark level, which gives a good view for some of the units nearest to it.

There are only 19 units of bungalows here, with three rather similar design. Each unit comes with you own garden in front, although the boundary is demarcated only by a hedge. Each unit also comes with a small courtyard inside your unit, while a handful of the units have large garden space behind the unit (for those fronting the main road) or beside it (corner units).

All units have 3 storeys, plus one additional sub-basement where there’s the parking bays plus a small foyer. The three floors above ground for some of the units are also on split unit, so do take careful note when studying the layout. All designs come with five-plus-one bedrooms with built-up areas between 3,431sq ft to 3,547sq ft and land areas from 2,697sq ft to 4,859sq ft. Because of the nature of the design concept, the accessory parcel for the units are exceptionally high, ranging from 2,831 to 4,739sq.ft. What this basically means is that you’ll be paying a lot for your monthly maintenance fees, something like RM650.

For the units without garden space, you get more parking bays as a trade-off, so you’ll get between 4 to 8 bays. But they don’t have visitor parking, so any guests will have to park outside or park in your own space, which isn’t practical. But space is a constraint, so that’s how it is.

The small layout forces some tricky design in their part, but we think they’ve done it well. The living room has a double volume, while the family area at the first looks down onto the living. While standing in the living, you can’t help but feel cramped in because of the small footprint, they’ve added lots of rooms and maximized the space available in the higher floors in return.

For example, while the kitchen and yard are small for Malaysian standards, the family are and master lounge is spacious, and the rooms are big with your private balcony for some.

UOA are selling a concept, and knowing that it may take an actual completed unit for them to really convince buyers, they’ve gone the BTS route. Actually, I think it would have done just as well without the completed unit, but it’s just as well. With 19 units, priced at between RM2.1 to RM2.6 million, it is exclusive to say the least. They are they only project with this concept in this area, and accordingly it has generated quite a buzz.

Did we like it? Very much. We would have liked a bigger build-up, since with that kind of price tag, an equivalent bungalow would yield something like 5000sq.ft. A we said, the concept sells the project.

We would perceive that most buyers here would buy for their own stay, as it would be harder to justify the rental return considering the price and location.

Sering Akasia is a condominium development located in the Taman Sg. Sering development in Cheras, which is located near Taman Orkid and Taman Suntex. It can be considered a relatively new area, but is beside existing matured areas bordering with the forest reserve. Ara Asa, the developer has a fairly large landbank to work their development, and this is basically the only condominium they have planned amidst the other phases of landed units and commercial areas.

While it is further away from the main Cheras areas, it is not to say very far, it is not much further from the city as, say, some of the other new developments that have been launched in this area over the past one year, like:
Taman Wangsa, Cheras
Hijauan Residence, Cheras
Suria Residen, Cheras
Sunway Cheras: Phase 2B &3, Cheras
The Oasis@Cheras Courtyard Terraces, Cheras
Bayu Segar, Cheras

But the difference here is that this is a condominium project, all the others are mainly consisting of luxury bungalows or semi-Ds at the very least. Condominiums are common in Cheras, as they are in most districts surrounding the city. It has been so for many years, driven mainly as a cheap housing infrastructure for those looking to stay near the city and enjoy suburban commercial facilities. In the past 30 years or so, the focus was mainly on affordable terrace homes and linkhomes, this can be easily be noticed all over Cheras is you travel around it, and also evident when you look from the MRRII. But in this day and age of land scarcity and spiraling costs, condos seem to the preferred choice of entry-level homeowners.

Sering Akasia is basically a low density condo; there are only 74 units on offer. The plot of land is quite small, thereby restricting the amount of workable space there is and as a result, there are not much facilities beyond the usual pool, gym, cafeteria and playground. The podium level is on the third floor. There are 3 levels of parking from ground level up, and beyond that there only about 10 level of units. There are both single units and duplex units available.

The standard unit is a simple layout of 3 rooms with 2 baths, at 972sq.ft. This is a very common size, that is basically suitable to the widest group of people, from bachelors to small families to investors. The third bedroom does not open out to the open air, but to an airwell due to the layout constraints. There is also a small balcony.

The developers have included a high number of duplex units in the ratio, perhaps to attract larger family units who prefer larger build-up. The duplex is basically double up of the typical unit, but there are smaller units starting from 1,546sq.ft.

The single floor units seem to be more popular than the duplex units, maybe because the concept is not yet as readily accepted.

Facilities and commercial areas are not lacking around this area – the shops around the condo alone can cater for the residents’ needs, that is one of the plus points of the development.

One of the main draws of this place is the low density, there are only 74 units. Plus it’s freehold, and this area is still not as congested as other parts of Cheras, but in time it will catch up no doubt.

The parent company of the developer is actively involved in a few projects across the city, like Ara Ampang. Their head office is at Taman Segar also in Cheras, but there is a sales office and show unit near the site.

Prefab houses are becoming more common in Europe, where natural resources and labor is inhibitive in terms of cost.

But many designers and architects are working on energy-saving prefab homes as part of a green effort, since electricity is another high cost expense.

MDesign has come out with a patented Mcube modular prefab system that not only looks great, but is flexible, solar-powered, and stunningly affordable housing option that exemplifies the benefits of prefabricated building.

According to Inhabit:

The system is based on a translucent 10′-cube module which can be stacked in multiple floors and units for residential and commercial purposes. Made from concrete, steel, and luminous fiberglass daylighting wall panels, the system can be fully erected in 90 days at a cost starting at $100 per square foot! (Yes $100 a foot!). Considering how expensive most sleek SoCal prefab systems seem to be - this is a price tag that really got our attention.

If you check out the website, you can see how beautiful the units look, you would not expect it to be prefab, much less cheap. There are also photos showing the different stages of erection, as a testament of how it can be completed in 90 days.

Looks like there are plans for another luxury development in Kenny Hills.

Mycom Bhd is planning a residential cum commercial project in the tune of some RM450 million luxury. The location is on a piece pf on a piece of 6.55ha land somewhere in Kenny Heights/Mont’ Kiara, Kuala Lumpur.

According to a report,

Announcing the project yesterday, Mycom said its subsidiary, KH Land Sdn Bhd, had signed a letter of intent with Merrill Lynch (Asia Pacific) Ltd (MLL) for a proposed 51:49 joint venture to develop the property.

MLL would participate in the JV directly or through its affiliates and a definitive agreement was expected to be signed within 45 days from the date of the letter of intent, it said.

It added that the site of the project formed part of the total 29.95ha parcel of land acquired by the company from Kenny Heights Developments Sdn Bhd under Mycom group’s restructuring scheme.

We are definitely interested to see what kind of development masterplan that is in store, given the small plot of land and existing surrounding of the area.