Property Talk: A weekly column by S.C. Cheah.
THERE is something that makes a Brunsfield apartment stand out from the surrounding buildings. It may be the colour scheme? More likely it's the project's strategic location that catches one's attention.
Take the Brunsfield Riverview serviced apartments and business centre in Shah Alam. Motorists cannot miss the U-shaped pink and blue condotel (condominium with hotel style features) beside the busy Jalan Batu Tiga-Sungai Buloh.
The 15-storey serviced apartment, the first of its kind in Shah Alam, is near the Giant and Makro hypermarkets.
It has among others a hotel-style reception area, landscaped courtyard, a swimming pool and other amenities. It comprises two-storey shop offices and 13-storey serviced apartments.
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Chan Chee Keong displaying vista Magna development |
Similarly, the newly completed Vista Magna apartments and business centre in Metro Prima, has become a new landmark in Kepong. The tall red and pink blocks in front of Jalan Kepong are very conspicuous.
Brunsfield KL Sdn Bhd is the turnkey contractor in the joint-venture project with developer Magna Park Sdn Bhd and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).
The latest apartment development by the Brunsfield Group is the Kuala Lumpur Cityview. It is also in a prime location along Jalan Cheras in KL. The joint-venture project between Warisan Tradisi Sdn Bhd, Brunsfield Cityview Sdn Bhd and DBKL had seen brisk sales.
Besides the prime locations, all three developments share an important selling point: they boast of smart home features produced by the Brunsfield Group.
As there are not many medium-cost apartments with smart-home features, Brunsfield's apartments were an instant hit with purchasers.
Brunsfield Development Sdn Bhd director for property development Chan Chee Keong said that when the Vista Magna apartments were launched in 2000 sales were brisk.
“The bulk of the units were priced below RM100,000. All units were sold within three weeks of launch. Subsequently we launched the shop lots priced from RM1.3mil that were the highest priced in Kepong. All were soon taken up.”
There are 816 apartment units and 57 shop units. Chan said that unlike the usual shops with a 22ft to 24ft-wide frontage, the shops at Vista Magna boast 26ft to 34ft wide frontage. This is a plus point as it offers a wider display area.
“A 26ft-wide frontage also caters for more parking bays in the basement. This works out to three cars from column to column,” he added.
Chan said the Vista Magna was one of the few developments with apartments on top of the shops.
Each 12-storey block has three levels of shops and nine levels of apartments. There are open and basement car parks.
He said generally properties launched in Kepong were saleable as purchasers liked the area.
“Some buyers are willing to pay RM500,000 more for shops in Kepong,” he said.
On the Riverview apartments, he said purchasers started to move into their units last September.
The units (averaging 850 sq ft and priced around RM125,000) come with free built-in kitchen cabinets, free smart home features and free six months' maintenance.
The smart home features include security alarm system, LCD keypad display, remote dial-in control, voice messaging/answering machine, smart lighting control for living area, smart card access to selected areas, and additional telephone for Internet.
A furnished unit can fetch between RM900 and RM1,200 rental a month.
Chan said all 574 units in the first three blocks of the Kuala Lumpur Cityview were sold within two weeks of launch.
The fourth block (Block D) with 168 units (910 sq ft to 1,050 sq ft area) was launched in April. It is 80% sold.
The average price is between RM160,000 and RM180,000.
The three-storey business centre with areas of 4,100 to 5,500 sq ft, was priced at an average of RM1.25mil. They have also been sold out.
Chan said the group was introducing e-home features for its Riverview apartments and would be also be implementing it for the Vista Magna apartments soon.
He said the e-homes services would be divided into three services: home security (e-security, e-enable homes), property management (e-facilities, e-bills, e-maintenance) and e-commerce (e-bulletin, e-village and e-lifestyle).
E-security would connect the home to the central monitoring system that alerts security in the event of burglary and emergencies.
Homes could be monitored from remote locations using CCTV cameras. Under e-facilities, one could make online booking of facilities while residents could chat with each other and have community interactions via e-village.
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