Asian Pac targets Sabah mall completion in May

KUALA LUMPUR: Imago, Asian Pac Holdings Bhd’s lifestyle mall in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, which is targeted to be completed in May next year, is expected to contribute 25% to the group’s overall revenue by 2016.

Chief executive officer Raymond Yu said the revenue contribution, would be backed by an expected rental yield of 5% per year.

He said the mall was already 65% leased to some prestigious lifestyle brands that should do well-supported by RM1.4bil annual retail spend among local and foreign consumers in the area.

The mall has 300 retail outlets all leased out and managed by Asian Pac, with a net lettable area of around 800,000 sq ft. It will be the first non-strata fully-leased shopping mall in Kota Kinabalu.

“We have another six months to go, I think we should be able to fully lease the mall by the completion,” said at a press briefing on the progress of the mall here yesterday.

He added that the advantage of wholly owning and leasing the mall out “allows us to have complete control over the tenancy mix, facilities and amenities of the mall”.

“It is essentially part of our strategy to diversify into more recurring income as it will provide us with better earnings growth,” he said.

Imago is sited in Asian Pac’s 6.07ha flagship integrated development called KK Times Square.

In February, it was reported that the mall was targeted to complete end-2013.

He said Asian Pac intended to open the mall to patrons in the fourth quarter 2014.

The group has also built a bridge connecting the mall directly to the city centre, enhancing the retail space’s accessibility.

KK Times Square’s Phase 1, consisting of office blocks, has been fully sold out to local, international as well as multinational firms.

Its Phase 2, the development of The Loft serviced residences and the lifestlye mall, is ongoing. The Loft is almost fully sold, with current price transacting at a range of RM700 to RM800 per sq ft for units facing the South China Sea.

While Yu was tight-lipped about the KK Times Square gross development value (GDV), it was first reported in 2010 that the entire project GDV was estimated at between RM1.4bil and RM1.5bil.

Yu, however, said that the 631-unit serviced residential component has a GDV of RM600mil.

On Kota Kinabalu’s development as a port and commercial hub, he said there was good progress in the past five years. Comparing Kota Kinabalu with Iskandar Malaysia, chairman Tan Sri Megat Najmuddin said the latter was a greenfield venture which will take years to prove itself while Kota Kinabalu was already a city with its own attractions.