Viva Home: 90% occupancy next month

KUALA LUMPUR: Viva Home, the first mall of its kind in the country that pools home furnishing retailers under one roof, expects to see an occupancy rate of 90% when it officially opens next month. The mall has already soft-opened and is currently about 65% occupied.

In an exclusive tour with The Edge Financial Daily, Kha Seng group PR & Communications manager Candice Foong said the mall is targeted at middle to higher-income shoppers around the Klang Valley.

Developed and owned by Kha Seng Group, the five-level Viva Home mall on Jalan Loke Yew is a one-stop home products and services centre with a net lettable area of 660,000 sq ft. It also offers an expo hall of 66,000 sq ft.

Among the anchor tenants of the mall are Giant Superstore and MBO Cineplex. It features 2,000 parking bays.

The mall is part of a RM280 million two-phase redevelopment of the former Plaza Uncang Emas (UE3) on a 8.5-acre site which Kha Seng acquired in 2009 for some RM100 million. The 260-room business class hotel above the mall is under construction and is expected to open by the end of next year.

Besides retailers, there are also “home clinics” offering professional services such as home renovations, interior design, electrical repairs, upholstery and plumbing.

The interior of Viva Mall.

“We have created specialised areas like the Oriental Treasure, which takes up 33,960 sq ft of floor space on the first floor, specifically for antique Chinese art and furniture retailers. We also have an ICT Zone on the third floor for electronic gadgets,” Foong said.

The lower ground floor (LG floor) of Viva Home will be the premium floor and will see exclusive furnishing retailers like Lorenzo and Home Haven operating there.

“The LG floor was formerly a car park floor but considering it is a premium location, we turned it into a retail floor as part of the redevelopment,” said Foong.

The LG floor houses lifestyle furniture and interior décor stores, banking-related services, cafés and restaurants.

The ground floor will feature the hypermarket, fast food outlets as well as gardening and landscaping services and accessories while living and bedroom furnishing, bathroom accessories, textiles, wall coverings and more restaurants are available on the first floor.

The second floor is where the shoppers can get interior design materials, grilles, doors, flooring, kitchen and dining furniture, lights and children’s furniture. The cinema, the ICT Zone and a food court are on the third floor.

Kha Seng Group is also the developer of the 22-level Kenanga Wholesale City, a fashion wholesale centre offering fashion apparel, accessories, shoes, gifts and lifestyle products under one roof. The centre off Jalan Loke Yew is scheduled for opening by year-end. Kha Seng is also the owner of Central Market in Kuala Lumpur, on which it spent RM10 million for upgrading works.

This article appeared on the Property page, The Edge Financial Daily, May 13, 2011.