Yong Tai to make a strong impression

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 9): With one completed project and one under construction, garment maker Yong Tai Bhd is ready to launch its biggest project yet -- the RM5.4 billion flagship, Impression City in Melaka.

Its maiden project, the Pines condominium was completed in June last year, while its second project, The Apple will be completed next year. Both developments are located in Melaka.

The 117-acre Impression City's centrepiece will be a theatre that showcases China’s Impression series, a live artistic performance directed by 2009 Beijing Olympic opening and closing directors Zhang Yi Mou, Wang Chao Ge and Fan Yue. It will feature local cultural elements coupled with light, music, dance, culture and visual displays, and it will be the first performance outside China. 

Executive director Boo Kuang Loon notes that Yong Tai needs a flagship project. “When people talk about this project, they would talk about Yong Tai, and vice versa. We don’t want to be just another developer in town. We want to be a developer that people talk about.”

Phase 1 of Impression City will be launched by 3Q2016, which will offer 800,000 sq ft of retail space, catering for tourists who come for the performance. Both the theatre and the retail space will be completed in 2017.

The first performance at Melaka is scheduled for end-2017. This performance is expected to attract three millions tourists a year, which in turn will bring demands for accommodation and food.

Read the full story in the Jan 11 issue of City&Country, the property pullout of The Edge Malaysia business weekly. Subscribe here for your personal copy.