Property Malaysia

Its been some years since Bandar Sri Damansara was first launched, most of the homes there have been occupied close to a decade now. At that time, Sri Damansara was an ideal place to have a large-scale mixed development - it was between Kepong and Sg. Buloh, and it was just bordering the limits of the then existing suburbs of Damansara and Bandar Utama. Sri Damansara at that time had its own residential and commercial areas, but of course was not in the same scale of the newer developments that appeared later.

In the interim years from then til now, lots of newer developments (both big and small) have sprouted out in this vicinity like Desa Park City, Sunway SPK, Damansara Damai and Damansara Perdana. Some people have named this area as the North PJ growth area.

Sutera Damansara is a relatively small development located just behind Damansara Damai. On one side, it borders Bandar Sri Damansara, and to the south, a river divides it from Kota Damansara. There is no access from KD, the but you either enter the area via Bandar Sri Damansara (although there is some issues with this planned connecting road) or the main entrance off the Jalan Sg. Buloh. The land for this project is jointly developed by Permodalan Negeri Selangor Bhd and OSK Property Holdings Bhd, and is made up of two separate plots of land. Together they form a rather sizable site, and the pilot phase launched now is called Sutera Ria, which are 22′ x 75′ linkhomes. Future phases will include semi-D and mega-link homes (”mega link”?), and also low to medium cost apartments. There is also a planned commercial area with shops and offices.

They have released a limited number of first phase units, all being the aforementioned 22′ x 75′ linkhomes. They are two storey designs but the corner units come with a third storey.

The typical unit has a standard rectangular footprint, 2,305sq.ft. build up and comes with 3+1 rooms. The facade looks a little untidy, with a lot going on below the pitched roof. Perhaps the window hoods and porch roof were pitched to match the main roof instead of having it RC flat it would have suited us more. But being the first launch in a new area, we did not expect radical design for a mid-level unit, perhaps they may emphasize more on concept design for later higher end units.

But having said that, they are setting the price bar quite high, at RM433,350 for a typical unit. This is a leasehold piece of land, and prices will undoubtedly increase with each passing phase. Pretty steep for us.

A moot point of the project is the proposed landscaped park with a recreational lake and jogging track. The project is also marketed as a gated and guarded development. Currently their sales office is located at Wisma Atria in Damansara Jaya.

OSK is well known name in the local investment banking scene, although this is the first time we have seen them involved directly in developing a project.

Would we buy it? It’s pretty expensive, for an area that isn’t directly connected to the main road. As we mentioned earlier, too, we were disappointed that they didn’t go for a finer overall concept for the landscaping and the look and design of the units. A stunning concept design would have really made this place worth the price, but alas. We doubt there are any chances of a link road to KD in the future, that’ll surely add value to this place. This area going towards PJ has its fair share of hard traffic at peak hours.