Special Focus: Homes amidst lush greenery

Surrounded by a forest reserve, The Valley TTDI Ampang has the trappings of a unique upmarket development

An upmarket residence surrounded by lush greenery of a forest reserve is what the developer of The Valley TTDI Ampang is offering prospective buyers. The 35-acre leasehold enclave developed by Naza TTDI Sdn Bhd — the property arm of the Naza group of companies — comprises 134 upmarket bungalows and link villas.

The link villas (66 units) each boasts a land area of 4,080 sq ft, built-up of 5,336 sq ft and are priced from RM2.677 million. The bungalows (56 units) offer land area and built-up of 4,680 sq ft and 5,354 sq ft respectively and are pegged from RM2.967 million while the exclusive bungalows (12 units) offer land areas from 7,000 sq ft, built-up of 5,017 sq ft and are priced from RM5 million.

Launched in April this year, the project with a gross development value of RM35 million, has to date sold 50% of the units offered.

Elaborating on the project’s unique selling points, the developer says The Valley TTDI is a rainforest luxury development with easy access to the city centre. Surrounded by the forest reserve of Ampang, the gated and guarded development also boasts a broadband-enabled clubhouse with meeting and function rooms, a swimming pool, a gym and a convenience shop. In keeping with its verdant surroundings, the development also boasts a park with a jogging track and meditation garden.

The developer, Naza TTDI, is no stranger to the property scene, having been the master developer of one of the Klang Valley’s more popular addresses, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, which was awarded the Fiabci Award of Distinction for Best Residential Development in 1994. The development of the 663-acre township began in 1973 and more than 6,500 units of both residential and commercial properties have been completed, with sales value of over RM1.3 billion. The last development here was the Residence Condominiums and the residential-cum-commercial TTDI Plaza, completed in April and December 2006 respectively.

The company was incorporated on March 10, 1973, under the name UDA SEA Park Development Sdn Bhd. It changed its name to TTDI–SEA Park Development Sdn Bhd in 1984, then to TTDI Development Sdn Bhd in 1990 and subsequently to Naza TTDI Sdn Bhd on March 11, 2008, to reflect its identity as a member of the Naza Group. Its previous shareholders were UDA SEA Park Sdn Bhd, UDA, Peremba Bhd and Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB). In 2001, Danaharta acquired TTDI from PNB to assist in the management of its huge property portfolio. In 2004, current shareholder Ekspedisi Nikmat Sdn Bhd, a member of the Naza group of companies, acquired TTDI from Danaharta.

More adventurous
In developing an upmarket project like The Valley TTDI Ampang, senior general manager (marketing and sales and quality assurance) Myrzela Sabtu says the most important consideration is the customer. “What are the lifestyles of the people who would want to buy and can afford the property we’re selling? Would they be passionate about the finer things in life such as luxury timepieces and automobiles? What are their leisure activities? With a better understanding of our potential customers, we can begin designing a lifestyle-driven luxury product,” she adds.

Myrzela says trends from other countries need to be considered as well. “What are the latest design elements and features from developed markets which we can borrow and incorporate into our own developments? Luxury property buyers are well travelled and they would be exposed to all manner of high-end developments during their travels. Thus, it is important for us to meet, and even to exceed their expectations,” she adds.

Having developed upmarket properties in the past, she says Naza TTDI pays particular attention to the choice and variety of the materials used, the security services, customer-oriented after-sales service as well as creating a feature for each project.

While Myrzela concedes that this niche segment of the property market is highly competitive, she points out that the innovativeness of the company’s designs and its stellar track record helps set it apart from other developers. Innovation, she adds, is crucial. “One of the challenges we face is how do we surpass the high benchmarks which we’ve set with our previous projects, and which we continue to set with our current launches. Luxury property buyers don’t want to be confronted with the ‘same old, same old’ when purchasing a property. They expect to be surprised, to be delighted, and it is here that we focused a lot of our resources on,” she says.

Nonetheless while innovation is important, she says developers shouldn’t adopt seemingly innovative ideas or designs just for the sake of it. “The main purpose of innovation is to meet an unmet need in the market and to delight the customer.”

As a developer on the path to growth, she says Naza TTDI can afford to be more adventurous with its developments and infuse some of Naza TTDI’s distinct characteristics like lifestyle concepts and emphasis on customer service. That the developer is committed to quality is another plus. The company obtained the MS ISO 9002:1994 Certification in 1998, which was successfully upgraded to the MS ISO 9001:2000 Certification in 2004 and renewed in 2007.

Apart from The Valley TTDI, the company is also developing the RM4.1 billion Platinum Park in the KLCC area that, upon completion, will comprise seven towers (three high-end condominium towers with a total of 287 units, three grade A office towers and a serviced apartment tower). The company has already secured two en bloc sales for the Platinum Park project — a 50-storey office tower that was sold to the Federal Land Development Authority and a 38-storey office tower to a government-linked company.

The developers’ other ongoing and upcoming projects include TTDI Alam Impian (a 208-acre township development in Section 35, Shah Alam), TTDI Puchong (a 53-acre integrated commercial development), TTDI Equine Park (a 8.7-acre mixed development) and TTDI Kajang (a 111-acre mixed residential development).

For more details, call (03) 5101 5600 or toll free 1300 88 TTDI (8834)



This article appeared in Luxury Living, the special focus pullout of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 782, Nov 23-29, 2009.