Galaxy Ampang mall shop owners hope for revival

AMPANG (Oct 23): Owners of lots at the Galaxy Ampang Mall have faced a lack of anchor tenants, empty floors, and at times, no air-conditioning and electricity. They hope to see their investment flourish. 

Speaking to Free Malaysia Today, a retiree who had invested in the mall by buying a lot in 2004, said: “I purchased a unit because as you enter the mall, it would have a revolving stage which no other mall in Malaysia had. To me, it was a sure bet.”

Escalators were at a standstill, he said, in addition to the other issues. 

He was also quoted by the news portal as saying that the present management, which took over in 2014, made things worse by dismantling the revolving stage without consulting lot owners, and had failed to organise annual general meetings (AGMs) for several years until 2017.

Another owner identified by the news portal as Goo, said he had bought two lots for over RM950,000. He said the mall had been nice at the start.

“But after two years, things started to go downhill. Slowly, the big businesses moved out as they felt there was a lack of business,” he said.

At one point, he described the mall as having no air-conditioning or electricity.

In addition to all this, he had not received the strata title for his property yet, rendering him unable to sell off his lots.

“I hope the new government will look into this and help us buyers.”

At present, most of the shop lots are closed, with only a few businesses operating on the lower levels. The existing shops are mainly limited to food stalls, massage parlours or hair salons.

FMT reports that when contacted, joint management body (JMB) president Yap Kim Ching said the mall was already in bad shape when Castle Vision Global Management Sdn Bhd (CVGM) was appointed to manage it on Aug 1, 2014.

“At the time, the ground floor was occupied by only 56 outlets, and only one of the four air-conditioning units was functioning.

“The lighting was also very poor and no maintenance was being carried out,” Yap said.

At that point in time, he said, 90% of lot owners were not paying maintenance fees, with the hopes of being able to contra them with late delivery compensation owed to them by the developer, including one anchor tenant who had left without paying maintenance fees for 30 months.

According to Yap, 80% of owners were not contactable, and the JMB which appointed them in 2013 had been forced to employ a third party to track them down.

Regarding the matter of AGMs, Yap said they had not held one in 2015 due to time constraints, but otherwise held the meetings every year.

As for the revolving stage, he said that it was not functioning at the time that CVGM took over, and only half of the 800 square feet space was usable.

“In 2016, after a JMB meeting, a pragmatic solution was taken to demolish the unusable stage and replace it with a 1,800 square feet stage which has since been used for many high profile and big events,” Yap was quoted as saying, giving the example of family days, charity events and festivities.

As of August this year, Yap says, the number of businesses operating in the mall and paying maintenance had increased to 123 shops.

The news portal reports that Yap said the company had plans to turn the mall around, including establishing an education centre, music academy, sky bar, swimming pool and cafe.

Other plans plans are to set up a circus academy, a traditional food paradise, a wedding hall and function rooms, as well as for more events and promotions to be held.