City & Country: Changing landscape

The property development landscape in Seri Kembangan is becoming more interesting with
more players getting into the act.

Among them are Equine Capital Bhd and LBS Bina Bhd, both of which have presence in the southwestern side of Seri Kembangan. Equine Capital has four projects that span about 700 acres — Taman Equine and next to it the mixed development of Putra Permai, Permai Park and Pusat Bandar Putra Permai.

Equine Capital plans to launch a semidee housing project on a 34-acre tract in Taman
Equine by 1Q2010. Details are not immediately available.

LBS Bina boasts two projects — the 277- acre Taman Pinggiran Putra and the 80-acre
Kota Perdana. The developer had handed over some 4,593 apartments, 2-storey link houses
and semidees valued at RM485.3 million in Taman Pinggiran Putra since 2001; and some
1,955 apartments, link houses and semidees in Kota Perdana since 2002. The two townships have been fully developed.

Elsewhere, the 12-acre Bayan Villa@Bukit Ikhlas, a freehold project developed by Bukit
Ikhlas Development Sdn Bhd, is located between Taman Universiti Indah and Seri Kembangan Business Centre. Offering 430 homes with built-ups of 840 to 2,242 sq ft, this project is scheduled to be handed over this month. These homes cost RM230,000 to RM500,000.

Behind the Selangor wholesale market is the 92-acre Alam Sanctuary, a project to be developed over five to six phases. The guarded community features a six-acre boutique park and jogging track and has a gross development value (GDV) of RM280 million. Developer Permatanah Sdn Bhd handed over the fully sold Phase One, comprising 70 link homes and 44 semidees, in March this year.

Phase Two, with 82 units of 2 and 2½- storey link homes, has also been sold. Phase
3, launched in August this year, consists of 46 units of 2-storey semidees and 81 two-storey super link homes. At press time, about 80% has been sold.

Located next to Taman Equine is Taman Desaminium, a 400-acre housing project of
Desaminium Jaya Sdn Bhd. The project comprises two major phases — Taman Desaminium
Flora and Taman Desaminium Rimba. While Desaminium Flora offers 3-bedroom apartments,
Desaminium Rimba offers 5-bedroom apartments.

Landmark developments
To the east of Seri Kembangan lies the landmark developments of the Mines Resort City, the Selangor Turf Club and the Mines Waterfront Business Park. There are also the high-end housing projects such as Gita Bayu, The Heritage, Palace Residence Suite and Bluwater Estate.

The Mines Shopping Fair is a shopping mall with a built-up of 1.7 million sq ft. It was developed as one of the several components of the Mines Resort City, including the Palace of the Golden Horses, Mines Resort and Golf Club and the Mines Wonderland. In August 2007, Country Heights Holdings sold the mall to Singapore-based Capitaland Ltd for RM435 million. The latter will inject the mall into a real estate investment trust it plans to launch soon. The mall has been recently refurbished to cater to the growing affluence of its catchment areas.

Clearwater Group
The Clearwater Group has two projects in Seri Kembangan — The Heritage and Bluwater Estate. The group is helmed by Dian Lee, eldest daughter of Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew, who is the founder of Country Heights Holdings.

The RM500 million The Heritage, located opposite Mines Shopping Fair, comprises an
8-storey office tower called The Heritage Tower (135,000 sq ft), five residential blocks (The Heritage Residences) and a 2-storey retail podium named The Heritage Village (120,000 sq ft).

The Heritage Residences offers 842 studio, 2 and 3-bedroom units in five 18-storey condominium blocks. It was launched in 2007 and some 98% has been sold. The Heritage
Village has been fully leased.

The RM2.5 billion Bluwater Estate spanning 256 acres is located at the back of The
Heritage. The project features a 51-acre lake and is an eco-focused high-end housing
development comprising cluster semidees, bungalows, lakeside luxury villas, twin villas, mid-rise and high-rise apartments with double-gated security.

The lake will be the anchor for Bluwater Estate’s green club house called the Blu°water
Private Club. Also featured will be a nine-acre horse ranch and riding school.

Gita Bayu
The award-winning RM560 million gated housing project, spanning over 118 acres, is developed by Yee Seng Heights Sdn Bhd. A total of 390 units comprising bungalow lots, town villas, garden villas and hill villas have been launched under Phase One since 1997. All have been sold. The developer plans to launch 48 bungalows and 11 boutique shops in the next two years.

In terms of planning and design, Gita Bayu can measure up to some of the Klang Valley’s exclusive addresses, but the former loses out in accessibility.

iProp Realty Sdn Bhd managing director Victor Lim says high-end homebuyers generally prefer areas like Damansara and Mont’Kiara rather than Seri Kembangan, as the latter is not considered “high-end as a whole”.

He means that one has to drive past low to medium-cost areas before reaching the highend development.

Lim is also speaking from experience. For more than a year, he has been trying to market a bungalow in Seri Kembangan. From an initial asking price of RM3.6 million, the owner has since reduced it to RM2.7 million but there is still no buyer in sight.

Mines Waterfront Business Park
Located next to the Palace of The Golden Horses hotel is Country Heights Holdings’Mines Waterfront Business Park. Phase One was completed in March 1997, offering a total net lettable area of 246,202 sq ft, which is now about 94% occupied with an average rent of RM3.53 psf. Phase Two, which has yet to be launched, will have a net lettable area of 345,204 sq ft. Details of the two phases are not immediately available.

The developer plans to launch next year the RM400 million Palace Residence Suites,
located on a 4.2 acre leasehold tract next to the hotel. About 386 units with built-ups ranging from 778 to 4,077 sq ft will be offered at an average indicative price of RM2,000 psf.

On the Selangor Turf Club (STC) located within the vicinity of the Palace of The Golden
Horses, it was reported in 2007 that Berjaya Land Bhd’s subsidiary Selat Makmur Sdn Bhd has been selected for a RM640 million project involving the relocating and building of the new STC in Rawang.

According to the report, the club has proposed to sell its existing land in Sungai Besi
to Selat Makmur for RM640 million to be paid for in land, buildings and cash. STC will, in return, get a 300ha tract in Sungai Tinggi, Ulu Sungai district, near Bukit Beruntung, Rawang, together with a “modern leadingedge racecourse of international standards with ancillary buildings” to be built by Selat Makmur at a cost of RM605 million. STC will also receive RM35 million cash.

The existing site has to be relocated because of traffic congestion and unsuitability of the land for horse racing.



This article appeared in City & Country, the property pullout of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 785, Dec 14-20, 2009