Cover Story: Creating value through variety

TheEdge Tue, Jul 12, 2022 04:00pm - 1 year View Original


Property development is a curious creature. It starts with an idea, which then develops into something that stands the test of time and becomes home to many, including growing families. How this is done differs from one developer to another but for Hock Seng Lee Bhd (HSL) in Kuching, Sarawak, the focus is on appealing to a wide customer base.

For example, La Promenade, a 200-acre master development in Kota Samarahan, Kuching, offers a variety of products that range from affordable to high-end. This is intentional, executive director Tony Yu tells City & Country via Zoom from the group’s headquarters.

“We try to create more products so that more people can have an address in La Promenade,” says Yu, adding that HSL wants the development to have a strong and positive reputation — a place with quality homes and a place to be, much like Singapore’s Orchard Road.

HSL was started in the 1970s in Sibu when the Yu/Yii siblings bought a timber dredging vessel to carry out sand dredging and landfill operations. Over time, operations were moved to Kuching and the company established itself in marine engineering, building a wide range of marine infrastructure, and carrying out land reclamation and civil engineering and construction work.

As the company grew, it bought land, the majority of which was in Kuching. When it had a modest land bank of about 100 acres in August 2000, it started a property development arm to “generate some income”, Yu explains.

HSL’s first two projects, Eden Fields and Regal Park, both in Kuching, offered 50 medium-cost terraced houses. Two decades on, the company has grown its property portfolio and has two ongoing projects Samariang Aman 3 and Vista Industrial Park, in addition to La Promenade.

Good sales for ongoing projects

At its flagship development La Promenade, which has an estimated gross development value (GDV) of RM430 million, 160 acres have been set aside for residential products and the remaining 40 acres, for commercial. Within the 40 acres stand HSL’s 10-storey corporate tower and La Promenade Mall. According to Yu, the residential development is a two-tier gated and guarded community with electric fencing and is segregated from the commercial area by lakes.

The project is low density with 4.7 units per acre and plenty of green spaces — which take up about 17% of the land — and about six acres of lakes. Yu says more than 1,500 Norfolk pine trees have been planted around the project.

There are three residential precincts — Premiere, Luxe and Grande. The first two are completed and fully sold while Precinct Grande is being built. It will consist of 93 units — 17 three-storey detached houses (built-ups: 4,442 to 5,064 sq ft), 52 three-storey duplex units (built-ups: 3,910 to 4,123 sq ft) and 24 two-storey semi-detached houses (built-up: 2,781 sq ft). The detached houses are being sold at RM3.35 million to RM3.75 million while prices of the duplexes start at RM2.3 million. 

Nine bungalows and 32 duplex houses were launched earlier, with seven bungalows and 29 duplexes being sold so far. 

Vista Industrial Park’s completed factories with large access roads and a central park (Photo by hock seng lee)

The remaining units, comprising eight bungalows, 20 duplex units in a new resort design and 24 semidees, will be launched in the fourth quarter of this year.

In Precinct Premiere, there are 68 units — 18 two-storey bungalows, 42 duplexes and eight quadruplexes. Yu explains: “The quadruplex is a semi-detached type of house that contains four separate units with sharing common walls. Houses based on this innovative typology — whereby all four units are ‘corner’ or ‘end lot’ units — are rare in Sarawak but are popular in advanced residential developments in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, where they are also called cluster homes.”

The built-ups for the quadruplexes range from 2,451 to 2,903 sq ft and each unit has its own courtyard and airwell, which acts as a separation chamber. The units were sold from RM1.331 million onwards. The bungalows, with built-ups of 4,252 sq ft, were sold for RM2.32 million onwards and the duplexes with built-ups of 2,841 sq ft were sold from RM1.42 million.

Precinct Luxe comprises 112 double-storey linkhouses with built-ups of 2,224 sq ft each and a starting price of RM918,000. This precinct also has a residents-only clubhouse with a gym and pool.

In the commercial area, plans are underway to expand La Promenade Mall, says Yu. “The net lettable area of La Promenade Mall is 121,632.2 sq ft. The mall will be expanded by 161,459 sq ft, comprising commercial and office spaces, and a medical centre with 100 beds.” He adds that there will be three serviced apartment blocks above a podium that will be linked to the mall. There will be a total of 371 serviced apartment units with built-ups of between 500 and 1,300 sq ft.

Above and right: Affordable Semariang Aman 3 homes cater for government servants and B40 income workers (Photo by hock seng lee)

Yu says these serviced apartments will be affordable for investors or staff working in nearby medical centres. The units will cost from RM400,000 to below RM500,000.

Samariang Aman 3 is another of HSL’s large-scale projects and is spread over 310 acres. Yu explains that HSL helped develop the Samariang area about 10 years ago. “We have built more than 1,000 units in this area. Eventually, it will have more than 3,000 units.”

Yu says there are also plans to build low-rise apartments.

“We have launched 257 houses in the last seven to eight months. Response has been good. We are not selling expensive houses. This product is affordable as people here are mostly government servants and B40 income workers,” he adds.

Buyers are attracted to the RM300,000 price tag and the mature area, where many of their relatives currently reside.

Yu says HSL is also developing mid-range 2-storey terraced houses priced from RM400,000 to RM440,000.

The 200-acre Vista Industrial Park features light industrial factories — with built-ups ranging from 3,052 to 5,658 sq ft — that will be sold on a build-to-sell basis. The semi-detached factories, which were launched in 2017 and 2018, are priced from RM1.215 million, while the detached ones are from RM2.512 million.

“So far, we have built 142 units of industrial factories,” he says, adding that the take-up rate is 98%, with only three units left.

“About 20% of the units are used for F&B businesses,” Yu says. Noticing this trend, HSL conducted a zoning exercise to ensure that there are no hygiene issues. It ensures that car workshops are not located next to the processing centres.

Yu adds that the park has a rent-to-own scheme, where potential buyers can rent the factory from HSL first and subsequently buy it if they like it, with the rent being part of the down payment.

Clockwise from above: La Promenade’s Precinct Grande’s 3-storey duplex homes in a new resort design; 3-storey bungalows; and 2-storey semi-detached houses that will all be launched in the fourth quarter of this year (Photo by hock seng lee)

Future developments

Yu highlights that HSL has several other projects in the pipeline. “We have one piece of land in Matang, which is almost 40 acres. This area is high-density and mature. It is considered a mid-range area. There is no gated and guarded development there, but we want to create one on our 40 acres, but we don’t want to sell an expensive product.

“Normally, when it comes to a gated and guarded project, the units will be expensive, costs will be higher, but now we want to ‘force’ ourselves to make this project gated and guarded, and affordable. We want people living there to have a chance to live in a proper gated and guarded development with proper greenery and trees. That is our goal.”

Another project, which sits on a 38-acre parcel, is next to the Pan-Borneo Highway in the Batu Kawa area. “The project name is Concordia and it will be completely high-rise and commercial products. So far, we have only done landed properties and have not done any mid-rise apartments but here, we are planning to build mid-rise blocks ranging from six to 12-storeys high,” says Yu.

But are Kuchingites ready for high-rise living when many of them still prefer landed properties? Yu believes so because over the last 10 years, HSL has been monitoring the changing tastes and lifestyles of the Kuching people and noticed an acceptance of high-rise living.

He also believes the product will do well because the area is mature and very near the bustling MJC, a development by Mudajaya that was completed 20 years ago. The area is filled with amenities like universities, malls and hospitals, and has a population of about 150,000.

At La Promenade, a townhouse development is pending approval. “We plan to have about 260 townhouses. Unit sizes range from 1,300 to 1,600 sq ft and there will be only two designs,” says Yu.

He is optimistic about the property markets in Kuching and the neighbouring Kota Samarahan, citing Kuching’s annual population growth of about 5%. Currently, about one million people reside in this area. Furthermore, the Pan Borneo Highway, which is going to be completed this year, allows faster travel from other parts of Sarawak to Kuching. For example, it takes about six hours to travel from Sibu to Kuching now but, with the highway, travel time will be about 4½ hours.

Yu says HSL is considering buying land in Sabah and the peninsula.

This seems to be the natural next step in its evolution, in line with its aim of creating homes for people at various stages of life and at prices they are happy with.

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