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For more than a decade, Lokasi Canggih Sdn Bhd group managing director C T Lim has been investing in property with one aim, to accumulate enough capital to start his own property developments.
Today, Sunhor Property Bhd, the property development arm of Lokasi Canggih, is embarking on its first development projects and rather ambitious ones at that. It is planning three projects on three parcels of land totalling about 20 acres in Bukit Kemuning, Shah Alam, with an estimated total gross development value (GDV) of RM1.06 billion.
Sunhor Property has an authorised capital of RM10 million and paid-up capital of RM5 million.
The freehold industrial parcels, located within walking distance of each other, lie next to Alam Impian and are currently being converted into commercial land. First up for launch is Tigaman Square. It is expected to be launched next month upon obtaining full approval, Lim says.
Lokasi Canggih is the registered landowner of three quarters of the 7.69-acre Tigaman Square, while the remainder is owned by Lim himself. Plans for the other two parcels in Bukit Kemuning are for the development of Tigaman Park and Tigaman Plaza — held under sister company Lokasi Unggul Sdn Bhd and by Lim himself.
The 44-year-old is the main shareholder of both Lokasi Canggih and Lokasi Unggul. These are family businesses involved mainly in property investment. The three parcels of land in Bukit Kemuning were acquired in 1999, and are expected to be developed within three to four years.
Lim founded Lokasi Canggih in 1995 and Lokasi Unggul last year. Since his youth his ambition was to become a property developer, but Lim decided the best path to achieve his goal was by first gathering enough resources and experience. He now has over 20 years of experience in the construction, property investment and property development industries.
Lim was also waiting for the right time. He says now a good time thanks to greater accessibility to the land via Lebuhraya Kemuning-Shah Alam (LKSA), Shah Alam City Hall’s plan to expand Jalan Kemuning to four lanes and the growing population of Alam Impian. Sunhor Property has applied to construct a 500m access road from its developments to Alam Impian.
The group’s property investments over the years include residential and commercial properties.
Tigaman Square
Located next to I&P Group Sdn Bhd’s Alam Impian township, Tigaman Square consists of four 6-storey commercial blocks (Block A, B, C and D) offering 513 retail and SoHo units. The bottom three levels feature retail units, followed by two levels of parking space and one level of office suites with a SoHo concept.
In the three blocks (B, C and D) available for sale, 71.71% of the units have been booked since October. Block B is fully booked by the developer’s directors and associated companies for the purpose of control over right tenant mix. These units have built-ups of 517 to 5,995 sq ft, and are tagged from RM93,740 to RM3.16 million. The complex has more than 970 covered and open parking bays.
All blocks will be linked by bridges on the first and second floors. The developer also plans to connect Blocks A with B as well as Blocks C with D with a terraced platform on one side of the building to allow dual frontage for all retail units on the first floor. This will ensure that business activities on the first floor are as vibrant as on the ground floor.
Spanning 7.69 acres, the RM203 million freehold project will feature an al fresco dining area on the ground and first floors. The developer plans to put in a street market and hold events at the al fresco area. The project is scheduled for completion in two years.
“Although the retail units look like normal shoplots, the retail level of this project is very much a shopping mall [with a gross lettable floor area of 565,360 sq ft] and it will be the only shopping mall in the Kemuning area for at least the next five years.
“We are going to engage a mall operator to run the mall. One requirement will be that the operator must have an event management company to assist them as we want to make this place as vibrant as possible by offering attractive events once every two weeks, if not once a week. As a developer, I’m willing to absorb the cost to make sure this place is vibrant,” Lim tells City & Country.
He adds that the open air dining concept is modelled after The Street at The Curve in Mutiara Damansara, while the retail outlet concept of the second floor retail units is based on Sungei Wang Plaza in Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.
The project, he says, will also feature rooftop gardens. A Bachelor of Commerce graduate from Australia National University, Lim knows he needs to make his maiden project a success. He has even brought in Korean architects to design the project.
He is very much aware of the challenges involved in the project. Property consultants are sceptical over the prospects of Tigaman Square due to the profile of its immediate surroundings, mostly industrial lots, and the lack of a strong population to support the retail portion of the development, especially during the weekends.
However, a property consultant tells City & Country that the development can work if it offers unique retail outlets or brands which attract shoppers there. Something also needs to be done about the industrial image of the area.
Lim says the company is in fact banking on the lack of retail developments in the vicinity for the project’s success.
“This is the only modern retail component in the vicinity and I don’t think there will be another. There is not much land left for development nearby. We offer what is absent in the area now and we want to bring in suitable tenants to serve the population here,” he says.
There is an existing population of more than 359,000 within 5km radius of Tigaman Square, more than 1.15 million within 10km radius, as well as a total population of 2.45 million within a 15km radius.
The name “Tigaman” is derived from the Malay words “tiga” and “aman”, which mean “the manifestation of the power of three.” Similarly, the name “Sunhor” means “three harmonies” in Chinese, stemming from an ancient Chinese philosophy about balance and unity derived from the harmony of the sky, earth and man.
Tigaman Park and Tigaman Plaza
Sunhor Property’s next project will be the RM850 million Tigaman Park on a 10.3-acre parcel nearby. Plans are for a six-level podium with a hypermarket, a retail component, a SoHo block, a serviced apartment block and a hotel-cum-residential block with a total gross built-up of 4.5 million sq ft.
The company plans to launch the project in October in three phases, which will see 388 retail units, 218 SoHo units, 288 apartments, 118 hotel suites, 218 residences (in the hotel-cum-residential block) and 140,000 sq ft of hypermarket space. In total, there will be 2.1 million sq ft in net lettable area.
“We want to put in a hotel because there is no hotel in the area. The hotel-cum-residential block will have a lobby, a lounge, restaurants and function rooms that can be used for seminars, conferences and weddings. We will only sell the residences at the hotel, SoHos and apartments.”
As for the third parcel, part of the 1.65-acre plot will house the developer’s 3½-storey sales gallery. The construction of the sales gallery, which will occupy 14,773 sq ft, is scheduled to start after Chinese New Year and will be operational by October. On the remaining land, plans are for Tigaman Plaza, comprising two 6-storey buildings connected by a sky bridge. This phase will only be built two to three years later, and the units will be kept by the developer.
The developer aims to attract specialised retail outlets, a specialist clinic (40,000 sq ft) and a college (30,000 sq ft) to be tenants at Tigaman Plaza.
“Upon completion of each project, we will retain no less than 20% of total retail space in Tigaman Square for recurring income, while retail spaces at Tigaman Park and Tigaman Plaza will be wholly owned. And being a debt-free company, I don’t see any problem for us in making this a successful project,” Lim says.
“We want this place to be an avenue for people to meet, shop, relax and work. There is no such project within 14km driving distance. There is sufficient population here and I believe a lot of buildings will come up in this area in the next five years due to the redevelopment of the industrial lots,” he adds.
This article appeared in City & Country, the property pullout of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 843, Jan 31-Feb 6, 2011
