City&Country: Anggun City offers new concept shopoffice in Rawang

The quaint town of Rawang in Selangor is experiencing a renaissance of sorts. Numerous new projects that have come up in the area in recent years have raised the profile of the town that is famous for its rugged terrain and steamed tilapia.

About five minutes from the town centre is a freehold, 800-acre township called Anggun@Rawang that is being developed by Pura Development Sdn Bhd — the wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Bee Land Sdn Bhd (HBL). To date, about 120 acres of the township, which has an estimated gross development value (GDV) of RM1.6 billion, have been developed.

HBL is the investment holding company of Hong Bee Group Malaysia, which owns the land. The company that is managing the land is Hong Bee Property Management Sdn Bhd, of which Tan Ming Huat is the managing director.

The latest addition to the township is the RM300 million Anggun City that is located beside the AEON  Anggun Rawang Shopping Centre. These two components make up a part of a larger commercial centre that covers 100 acres. When fully developed, the area will feature other commercial and retail properties as well as a specialist medical centre, a Tenby International school and facilities that are still being planned, says Tan.

“After we built the mall last year, we planned to build shopoffices but we didn’t want the typical 3 to 5-storey units with a separate car park block because this [type of] design has many security issues. So, we came up with a new concept.”

The new concept has a shopping mall feel. The 17-acre project features 129 three-storey shopoffices that come with an “accessory parcel” in front of each unit. “The units will have a 20ft-long piece of land at the front,” Tan explains. The space will belong to the unit and can be used for al fresco dining or an outdoor bazaar.

The ceiling of the ground floor will be 22ft high, allowing the owners to build a mezzanine floor, Tan says. There will be three types of shopoffices in Anggun City, which will have an overall net lettable area of 650,000 sq ft. Type A will have 45 units (22ft by 70ft), Type B 66 units (25ft by 70ft) and Type C 18 units (25ft by 70ft with dual frontage).

HBL will retain the Type C units and 33 units from Types A and B for recurring income. The tenant mix will be managed by the developer. The remaining 78 units will be sold. The selling price of Type A (built-up: 4,500 sq ft) starts at RM2.08 million while that of Type B (built-up: 5,200 sq ft) is from RM2.28 million.

Other features include common escalators to the higher floors in strategic areas. There will also be a covered area with skylights and giant fans providing shelter and ventilation, like those in Sunway Giza in Kota Damansara. The units on the first floor will be connected by a common covered walkway while there are three covered drop-off points as well as designated disabled-friendly ramps, lifts and toilets for the handicapped.

Anggun City will be officially launched on July 28 and according to Tan, about 40 to 50 serious registrants have made their known their interest to purchase the units. The rent for an entire shopoffice could be between RM10,000 and RM12,000 per month while the rental yield for the three floors is estimated at 5% to 6%.

Green features
The architect for Anggun City, Siew Kwok Hong of Atelier ADT, says unlike typical shopoffices, the design of Anggun City’s units will help save electricity.

“The roof will be designed with deep eaves to cut down on air-conditioning. You walk in the shade basically. And we have open space for trees and streetscaping, so that people can move around in a tropical setting.” Further promoting the green initiative is a rainwater harvesting system where the rainwater collected will be used to wash the common areas and water the plants.

A management office to be set up by the developer will ensure the cleanliness and maintenance of the common areas, Tan says.  In addition, 1.04 acres will be “sacrificed” by the developer to create an open plaza. “This space could have contained 12 more shopoffices, but we decided to create this plaza, which can be used for events and festive activities,” Tan points out.

In terms of parking facilities, more than 270 surface and about 1,000 basement parking bays will be provided. For added security, CCTV and boom gates will be installed. There will also be a designated area to park motorcycles to keep them out of the commercial centre. In addition, there will be a police beat base on site. “We have talked to the Rawang police and they are very keen to come in,” Tan says.

Serving the populace
Tan says the catchment population for Anggun City, which is set to be completed in 2015, is about 500,000 with Rawang contributing about 200,000 to 300,000. The rest will come from Bukit Beruntung, Sungai Buloh and Kepong, among others, he adds. The area has good connectivity via the North-South Expressway, the Kuala Lumpur-Kuala Selangor Expressway (LATAR) and the Guthrie Corridor Expressway.

On whether the shopoffices in Anggun City will compete against the AEON Anggun Rawang Shopping Centre, Tan says Anggun City will focus on food and beverage outlets, banks, clinics and convenience stores, including travel agencies. The shopping centre, which HBL built and has leased out to AEON for 25 years, is becoming a pull factor in the area. The cost of constructing the retail centre with a gross rental area of 520,000 sq ft was RM92 million and provides the developer with a yield of 6% to 6.5%. It also helps that residential project Anggun 1 is fully sold and occupied while the Anggun 2 homes, which are also fully sold, will be handed over in a couple of months.

Anggun 1 features 235 bungalows, semi-detached and cluster homes with built-ups of 2,165 to 4,500 sq ft that were launched in 2007 at RM380,000 onwards. Today, prices on the secondary market are between RM850,000 and RM900,000.  Anggun 2 features 225 semidees that are 40ft by 75ft and have built-ups of 2,000 to 2,685 sq ft. These were launched in 2011 at RM578,000 onwards.  When the township is completed, it will boast 5,000 homes and its population is expected to keep the businesses in Anggun City going.

Adding flavour to the township in the coming years will be a Tenby International School. The school recently signed an MoU with the developer and is in the process of making the necessary submissions for it to be set up. An MoU has also been inked with a specialist hospital to be located there. Next to be launched in the township is Anggun 3 and according to Tan, this will be at the end of the year or early next year.

Meanwhile, HBL is involved in developing a township with Guocoland Bhd in Rawang called Kota Emerald on a 50:50 basis and Setia Eco Gardens with S P Setia Bhd (the main stakeholder) in Johor on a 70:30 basis. It has also completed a 22-storey condominium in Brickfields near KL Sentral called Mutiara Residensi in a joint venture with Mutiara Johan Group. According to Tan, the company is looking to acquire more land for new projects in the Klang Valley and Selangor.

This article appeared in City & Country, the property pullout of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 920, July 23-29, 2012