#Update* Selangor Properties targets new launches this year

KUALA LUMPUR: Selangor Properties Bhd has lined up several property launches in Damansara Heights, Gombak and Selayang this year.

Among these is a high-end condominium on Jalan Batai in Damansara Heights, group financial controller Lee Boon Kian told the media after the company’s annual general meeting here on April 28.

The company has received the development order for the two-acre freehold project, which is awaiting planning approvals. The single 20-storey tower will offer 107 units with an estimated gross development value of more than RM300 million. Selangor Properties hopes to start work on the project this year.

On Jalan Semantan, also in Damansara Heights, a freehold tract of 9.3 acres has been earmarked for redevelopment. Currently, the 39-year-old office block Wisma Damansara stands on the site.

Lee said plans for a mixed-development project on the land had been scrapped because of height restrictions. Instead, Wisma Damansara will be refurbished and joined by three new condominium blocks. The entire redevelopment will have an estimated GDV of RM1 billion.

In Gombak, 200 units of link houses under Phase Two of the Bukit Permata freehold development will be launched by this year.

Over in Selayang, the developer is awaiting approval of building plans for its Selayang Mulia project. Selangor Properties hopes to launch, in stages, 700 link houses there by year-end at indicative prices of RM250,000 onwards. The project sits on a 59.1-acre leasehold tract.

Plans are also afoot for a mixed development of some 3,000 link houses and shopoffices on 140 acres in Ulu Langat. The layout approval is pending and the project launch has been targeted for end-2011.

On its project in Claremont, Perth, Australia, Selangor Properties is starting construction of Phase Two, an 8-storey residential tower of 40 units atop the Claremont Shopping Centre. This is a carbon copy of the first tower, which was completed recently. The mall, owned by Selangor Properties, has a 93% occupancy rate. Lee said the group has no plans to expand its presence in Perth.

Meanwhile, Lee said their commercial properties in Damansara Heights continue to record an average occupancy rate of 96%. In the portfolio is Menara Milenium, which is currently 98% occupied with a 7% to 8% yield per annum.

For the year ended Oct 31, 2009, the group posted a profit after tax and minority interests of RM33 million on a turnover of RM321.7 million.