The Rafflesia’s Phase Two coming up

Those familiar with the 791-acre leasehold Damansara Perdana township in Petaling Jaya will notice that there are mainly highrise residential properties in the area. Many may not know but there is an 81-acre parcel known as the North West Corner, which the developer MK Land Holdings has allocated for landed homes.

The launch of Phase One of The  project on the 27-acre Parcel C of the North West Corner in March 2007 marked the first landed property offering in Damansara Perdana. Tagged from RM1.4 million, Phase One consists of 56 units of 3-storey semi-detached homes with built-up area of 4,668 and 3,861 sq ft. With a take-up of 95%, some 24 units will be handed over to buyers by February next year, and the rest by June next year.

Riding on the success of Phase 1, the developer will be soft-launching Phase 2 of The Rafflesia later this month. This phase will see 60 three-storey semidees with built-up of 3,861 sq ft. Each unit has a land area of 35ft by 82ft, and priced from RM1.6 million. They come with air-conditioning system for the dining room, living room and master bedroom, says MK Land’s chief operating officer, central region, Fatimah Wahab.

The Rafflesia
“The Rafflesia is at one of the highest points in Damansara Perdana and it is within a lush green area. We have tagged 2,100 trees that we will keep,” she tells City & Country. It will be developed in four phases to be completed by 2012 with a total of 214 homes.

“The plus points of our project are the location, accessibility and amenities. Besides, our property is also value for money, because it is only priced at about RM450 psf, while a similar product in [the neighbouring] Mutiara Damansara is selling at RM700 psf,” she says.

The project is targeting high net worth owner-occupiers, existing MK Land buyers as well as foreigners from Japan, South Korea and Australia. Previous developments in Damansara Perdana have attracted foreigners mainly from these countries, says Fatimah.

All bedrooms will have an attached bathroom, and the master bedroom will occupy the highest floor of 900 to 1,300 sq ft, says Fatimah. The developer will also provide security facilities, including eight-foot perimeter fencing and 24-hour patrolling in the area.

Upon the completion of The Rafflesia on Parcel C, MK Land plans to develop the adjacent Parcels A and B with higher-end landed properties in the next five years. The three parcels will see a total of 460 units.  It is also believed that some super high-end bungalows will be built at the highest point of Damansara Perdana. It will be a low-density project with only 20 strata-titled bungalow units.

Core products
MK Land’s executive director Felina Mustapha Kamal reveals that The Rafflesia, Armanee Terrace condominiums and Metropolitan Square Block C condominium have been identified as the company’s core products to enhance profitability under the developer’s five-year roadmap.

Felina, 38, had been redesignated as the company’s executive director, from the position of non-executive director, on Aug 1. She is also the executive director of the Emkay Group, the private vehicle of her father, Tan Sri Mustapha Kamal Abu Bakar, who is MK Land’s chairman and chief executive.

Besides The Rafflesia, which has a gross development value (GDV) of RM100 million, Metropolitan Square Block C will also be launched on Aug 22. To be developed on a 16.05-acre tract, Metropolitan Square Block C, with a GDV of RM116 million, comprises two wings of 23 storeys with hill views. It will offer 258 units in three designs of 975, 1,095 and 1,245 sq ft respectively and priced from RM430,000 onwards.

“The buyer profile of Metropolitan Square Blocks A and Block B shows that the buyers are mainly investors. Therefore, we decided to include built-in kitchen cabinets, built-in wardrobes and air-conditioning systems in the living hall and all bedrooms, so that the buyers can rent out their units once the units are handed over to them.

“For the existing owners, we have appointed an agent to help them rent out their units at market rates to maintain the value of the property. Currently, the rental yield of Blocks A and B is 8%,” says Felina.

Metropolitan Square is a condo project with a mix of Grade-A offices and retail shops.

As for the Armanee Terrace condominium project, Block A with 522 units was handed over at end-2005. Block B, which is scheduled for completion by December 2010, is currently selling from RM800,000. To-date, some 40% of Block B has been sold.

Blocks A and B have a combined GDV of RM500 million. MK Land plans to build five more blocks with different concepts in future phases.

More than 40% of Damansara Perdana has been developed with more than 8,000 properties, of which some 7,500 units are highrises. The township currently accommodates more than 20,000 residents.

Mustapha Kamal made his comeback as MK Land’s CEO in June last year, after more than a year’s hiatus from the company he co-founded about 25 years ago with his partner Datuk P Kasi, who is now the non-executive director.

In its latest filings with Bursa Malaysia, MK Land registered a net profit of RM3.1 million in 3QFY2009 ended March 31, from RM237,000 a year ago. The contribution came mainly from property sales and development in the Klang Valley.

Among the major land sales is the disposal of a 23-acre leasehold land by its wholly- owned subsidiary Saujana Triangle Sdn Bhd to Ketara Megah Development Sdn Bhd, a company related to Mustapha Kamal, via an open tender exercise for RM150 million in January this year.

MK Land also has projects in Damansara Damai, Taman Bunga Raya in Bukit Beruntung, Cyberjaya, Jelapang and Kelebang Putra in Ipoh, Langkawi, Taiping as well as Bukit Merah.

In June, its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ritma Mantap Sdn Bhd, entered into a memorandum of understanding with MKN Embassy Development Sdn Bhd and Star Dreams, an indirect subsidiary of the Embassy Group of Companies to jointly develop affordable housing in Bangalore, India.

This article appeared in City & Country, the property pullout of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 767, Aug 10-16, 2009.