TRADEWINDS Corp Bhd plans to launch the first phase of its Belfield project in Kuala Lumpur, comprising high-end serviced apartments. The going price could be below RM1,000 per sq ft for property in a secluded area in the city centre.

“Our price range will be ‘obscenely ridiculous’ at potentially less than RM1,000 psf. But we will not compromise on value. I have seen it being done in other countries and I don’t see why this can’t be done here,” group managing director Datuk Wira Azhar Abdul Hamid says.

Close to the Belfield project, for example, Bina Puri Holdings, which is developing The Opus Kuala Lumpur, sold its apartments at a starting price of RM1,500 psf with an early-bird discount during the initial launch. The pre-sale launch was held in March this year, with the official launch in June.

Azhar says that, generally, established developers who sell their product in phases cannot afford to sell the later phases at a lower price than an earlier phase of the same project. “If they dropped their prices, the previous owners would come for them.”

Tradewinds Corp’s Belfield project will be built in six phases, with the first commencing next year.

“Phase 1 will be serviced apartments, phase 2 is retail, phase 3 is serviced apartments, phases 4 and 5 condominiums and phase 6 will be high-end condominiums,” he says of the project, which has a gross development value of RM3.8 billion. The project will be built on 9.3 acres (3.7ha) of leasehold land in the green enclave located between Jalan Hose and Jalan Belfield. Tradewinds Corp plans to conduct a private sale before launching the project.

This 9.3-acre parcel, together with another 2.9 acres, was purchased for RM258 million from the Federal Land Commissioner Kuala Lumpur in cash from internally generated funds. The purchase, which works out to a price of RM485 psf, was done through Tradewinds Corp’s major shareholder Perspective Lane Sdn Bhd.

Although purchased by Perspective Lane, following an internal transfer of ownership, Tradewinds Corp will also assume the role of the developer of the Belfield project.

The Belfield and Jalan Talalla area in Kampung Attap is expected to boom as it has already caught the attention of at least two other developers — the family of the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong and Salcon Bhd.

The Kampung Attap area will benefit from a double-storey tunnel called Belfield Tunnel that will connect directly to the KL118 skyscraper next to Stadium Merdeka.

This article first appeared in digitaledge Weekly, on August 24 - 30, 2015.