Service in the heart of KL

Another attraction is the concept of a serviced apartment with Swiss-Garden Hotel offering its services

PJ Development's new apartments already attracting the crowd

PJ Development Holdings Bhd expects a steady income flow from various projects over the next three years despite the uncertain global and national economic outlook. Judging from the sales of its Swiss-Garden Residences in the last three months, this appears to be a realistic expectation.

“We have yet to launch but the first block of Swiss-Garden Residences, located along Jalan Galloway, is already 80% sold with buyers from Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia,” says executive director Yap Yoon Kong.

“We are able to offer a guaranteed return of 7% over the next five years, with an option to extend another five,” says Yap.

The 436-unit project, on 1.7 acres of freehold land, comprises a 37 and a 33-storey block. One of the blocks will be directly linked to the four-star Swiss-Garden Hotel via a covered bridge. Both blocks will be linked at the podium level.

Yap says the selling point is the location, which is at the fork between Jalan Bukit Bintang and Jalan Pudu. “This place is vibrant and is located near a tourist shopping area,” he adds.

The concept of a serviced apartment with Swiss-Garden Hotel offering its services is another attraction.

“The hotel has an occupancy rate of more than 80%. We own and manage the hotel, together with another four located throughout the country.

“Linking the residences to the hotel and providing services to match is just a small extension. That is why we are able to offer a guaranteed return of 7% over the next five years, with an option to extend another five,” says Yap.

The company is working on a service charge of 35 sen per sq ft, which it will waive for the first five years.

The group owns Swiss Inn in Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown, Sunway Hotel in Georgetown, Penang and Swiss-Garden Resort and Spa Damai Laut off Pangkor and Swiss-Garden Resort and Spa in Perak and Kuantan respectively. It also has another property, Garden-Lodge, in Sydney, Australia.

On the upcoming service apartment, Yap says the unit size ranges from 550sq ft to 2,700sq ft.

Priced between RM330,000 and RM2mil, he says this works out to RM800 psf, which is relatively attractive considering how land prices have moved up of late.

The development has a gross value of between RM260mil and RM270mil.

The project is within walking distance of Plaza Rakyat - an integrated development which has had its fair share of starts and stops - and a stone-throw away from the former Pudu prison, which is expected to be redeveloped.

“These are projects in our vicinity. Once they are up and running again, they will add to the value of our development,” he says.

The group has five core divisions; the hotel and leisure business involves ownership, hotel operations and its time-sharing business.

This, says Yap, offers a steady recurring income. The hotel and leisure divisions contribute between 20% and 30% to group income.

Other divisions include trading of building materials and manufacturing of power cables.

The contribution from both is insignificant but strategic as they help the company keep tabs of market conditions.

Its property and construction divisions are by far the most lucrative, as both contribute between 50% and 60% of group revenue annually.

PJDH chalked up a six-month cumulative revenue of RM356mil as at end December 2007, compared with RM252mil for the same period in 2006. Profit before tax amounted to RM87mil and RM19mil respectively.

The group has about 1,500 acres of undeveloped land in Selangor, Kuantan, Butterworth and in the states of Johor and Perak.

Besides the service apartment project, the company will also launch its gated and guarded development Duta Kingsbury in Sri Hartamas in the next several weeks.

The 10-acre freehold development will have 64 units of linked houses and 200 condominium units split over two blocks. Unit sizes range from 2,000sq ft to 6,500sq ft.

Units are furnished with kitchen cabinets, cooking appliances and refrigerators while its standard landed terraced units (24ft x 75 ft) with air-conditioners.

Facilities include a swimming pool, a gym, tennis and squash courts, meeting rooms and a multipurpose hall. Maintenance is at 24 sen psf.

This strata development will be completed by 2011.

“With the Mont’Kiara and Sri Hartamas amenities like malls, international schools and strong food and beverage outlets, Duta Kingsbury will boost our income considerably.” he says.

Prices for landed and condominium units range from RM1.4mil to RM6mil. Duta Kingsbury will have a development value of RM580mil.

The company also took over an abandoned 28-storey office block in Jalan Tun Razak, which it will complete next year and aims to sell en bloc for about RM300mil.

The company has other projects in Bukit Antarabangsa and Cheras.

By The Star (by Thean Lee Cheng)