In fact, Lai’s children as well as other directors of the joint-venture development have all bought units, mainly as investments. However, Lai and one of the joint-venture directors, who is also chief executive officer of a public-listed company, have furnished and moved into their units.
Lai has a penthouse in one of the high-rise towers but because his wife didn’t fancy walking up and down the huge duplex unit, he has opted to stay in one of two adjoining units in a low-rise block. The other unit is meant for visiting friends and relatives.
Kiaraville is known for its two landmark bronze sculptures worth RM2mil sited at the entrance plaza. The two rotund figures of musicians were created by New York-based Malaysian artist Eng Tay.
Sited on 2.73 hectares (6.74 acres) of land, Kiaraville comprises Tower A with 33 storeys, Tower B with 28 storeys and Tower C with 18 storeys while the two remaining residential blocks are relatively low-rise with 10 and 13 storeys, respectively. The first few units were handed over in February this year. There are a total of 404 units.
Kiaraville is developed by Binaderas Sdn Bhd – owned by Lai and his family members – in collaboration with CapitaLand Financial Ltd and OCBC Bank.
The launch price in March 2005 was RM430 per square foot. To date, all the units have been sold. However, units recently transacted in the secondary market cost between RM550 and RM700 per square foot. The typical units range from 1,593sq ft to 3,935sq ft. Maintenance fee is 25 sen per square foot inclusive of sinking fund contribution. Lai’s own two adjoining units are on Level 1 and have great views of the swimming pools and the landscaped plaza. One of his units, featured on these pages, spans 3,954 sq ft.
As a relatively high-end condo development, imported marble is used as the flooring material in the foyer as well as the living and dining rooms. Bedrooms have “pre-engineered timber” flooring while the wet and dry kitchens come with homogenous tiles. The bathroom in the main bedroom and the powder room have granite floors while the other bathrooms have homogeneous tiles.
While the main construction features were left intact, Lai wanted a grander ambience for his own units. Thus, he spent “substantial resources” on timber panelling to build an apartment with a “stately feel”.
Privacy is assured as there are only two units on each floor of the residential block that Lai has chosen. There is also direct access from the private lift lobby of the condo units to the car park in the basement.
Other than the timber panels, nothing much else needed to be done to the units. Standard built-in features include cabinets in the dry and wet kitchens and wardrobe units in all bedrooms.
The bathroom in the master bedroom is similar to bathrooms of five-star hotels. It has a grand view of the landscaped plaza and pools.
Bathroom fittings include Hans Grohe shower sets in all bathrooms, especially in the master bedroom, which is equipped with a “Rain Dance” shower set. Sanitary ware fittings are from Toto.
Most of the furniture were either custom-built in Singapore according to specifications by the Singapore-based interior consultant. The brown lounge chair is from Baker Furniture imported from the US by a local store.
With the help of a design team from Design Stream, the interior was fitted out with imported furniture, including Baker from the US and FLOS lighting fixtures. Other furnishings were custom made in Singapore.
The furniture items can be described as in a “modern classic” style which won’t look outdated in a few years as design trend changes, says Lai’s personal assistant.
Contemporary Malaysian Art
When it comes to art works for his walls, Lai has become more adventurous in his taste. Of late, he has bought contemporary Malaysian paintings ever since an art gallery was set up in his other condominium development in Seni Mont’ Kiara.
Says Lai: “I sourced them from art shows in the SENI art gallery from time to time. The works include Ismail Latiff, Jolly Koh, Eng Tay and Jansen Chow.”
As the developer of Kiaraville, Lai is even more than happy to know that his buyers are renting out units that command quite good returns. The average rental rate is RM3.80 per square foot. And one of the units in his block has been rented out at RM15,000 per month.
And the company chairman expects the capital appreciation of prime condo units in Kiaraville to reach 50% to 70%.
By The Star
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