PETALING JAYA: Ekovest Bhd’s RM1.84 billion EkoCheras integrated development at Jalan Cheras, Kuala Lumpur is on track to be fully completed by June this year.

The integrated development comprises a mall, a hotel, an office tower and three blocks of serviced apartments. The four-storey EkoCheras Mall is the first to be completed and has opened its doors to the public since its soft opening in September 2018.

About 91% of the mall’s 600,960 sq ft net lettable area has been leased out as at end-2018, with all the tenants expected to move in by February, Ekovest managing director Tan Sri Lim Keng Cheng, told EdgeProp.my.

“A majority of the tenants will be top F&B outlets, such as Starbucks, The Coffee Bean & Leaf, Auntie Lora Kopitiam and The Brew House while Village Grocer and GSC (Golden Screen Cinemas) are our anchor tenants.

“We also have Singapore-based fruit tea and bakery store MuYoo+ and the Japanese karaoke chain Manekineko which will open their first stores in Malaysia at EkoCheras Mall,” Lim revealed.

He pointed out that in order to offer an affordable yet comfortable shopping experience, EkoCheras Mall has adopted a minimalist and sustainable industrial design concept using exposed concrete.

“This sustainable design enables us to achieve some 20% cost savings. We built the mall at a cost of about RM320 million using this design approach. It would cost more than RM400 million if we didn’t,” he explained. With the cost savings, the developer was able to offer the mall tenants a competitive rental rate and facilities for its shoppers.

“We think that the surrounding areas need to have a ‘renaissance’ and open up more growth opportunities. So that was why we bought a few plots of land and combined them together to build EkoCheras. We also built an elevated U-turn at Jalan Cheras to tackle the traffic bottleneck,” he said.

Lim said EkoCheras Mall aims to complement the 24-year-old Cheras LeisureMall to rejuvenate the area, he opined.

The developer will retain the mall and the 238-room Innside Kuala Lumpur Cheras hotel. For the latter, the company has appointed Spain’s largest hotel chain Meliá Hotels International as the operator.

Meanwhile, the three blocks of serviced apartments at EkoCheras namely Tower E, Tower H and Tower J offering a total of 1,516 units, have achieved a take-up rate of about 80%, said Lim.

With built-ups ranging from 500 to 1,200 sq ft, the units in the three towers are priced between RM500,000 and RM1 million. The units are expected to be completed in January 2019.

Meanwhile, the 21-storey office tower dubbed Tower A, has seen its 106 stratified office units with built-up space of 1,300 sq ft sold out at prices of between RM790,000 and RM2 million. The handover of the units began in November last year.

This story first appeared in the EdgeProp.my pullout on Jan 4, 2019. You can access back issues here.

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