KINTA VALLEY (Nov 26): Kinta Valley, Perak is poised to welcome Silverlakes Brand Village Outlet – the country’s’ first lakeside shopping outlet brand village – by end-2018.
Sitting on a 33-acre parcel of land, Silverlakes Brand Village Outlet is located within phase one of the Silverlakes development, which spans 511 acres and carries an estimated GDV of more than RM2 billion.
The entire development is undertaken by Silverland Capital Sdn Bhd.
Scheduled for completion by August or September 2018, the outlet has commenced construction in March this year, Silverland Capital executive chairman and majority shareholder Datuk Azizan Abdul Rahman said at the groundbreaking ceremony today.
Currently, out of the 150 shops at the outlet, about 40% to 50% of them have received letters of intention from perspective tenants, he added.
Targeted to officially open in the first quarter of 2019 with 100% occupancy rate, the outlet is expected to have a soft launch in December 2018 with an occupation level of at least 60% to 70% to take advantage of the year-end holidays and new year sales, he noted.
The groundbreaking event was officiated by Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Diraja Zambry Abdul Kadir.
In his speech, Zambry said that although there are a lot of outlets in the world, not many of them are located at an area with a scenic lake view and grove and have a unique lakeside concept such as the Silverlakes Brand Village Outlet.
Hence, he is confident that the outlet will become a crucial factor to drive growth of the area and become an iconic development in the country.
As a tourism destination project supported by the Ministry of Tourism & Culture Malaysia, the outlet is positioned as a first-of-its-kind outlet village-type lakeside mall in the Kinta Valley as well as in Malaysia, said Azizan, who is also the chairman of Eastern & Oriental Bhd and and TH Properties Sdn Bhd.
"It is a new value shopping haven and tourist attraction that will indeed boost the Perak state government's bid in stepping up efforts to project Kinta Valley as a world class tourism shopping destination," he added.
With an estimated annual footfall of four to five million, the outlet will cater to the 1.5 million population in Kinta Valley and the 1.4 million daily traffic on the North-South Highway.
Silverland Capital managing director Shaik Rizal Sulaiman highlighted that the Silverlakes Brand Village Outlet is expected to be a catalyst in bringing people, shoppers and holidaymakers alike to this retail resort, given its accessibility to Ipoh, the North-South Highway and Batu Gajah KTM ETS train station as well as the scenic lake in the development.
Shaik was the group managing director and CEO of Jiankun International Bhd (formerly known as Nagamas International Bhd) until Oct 2, 2013.
When completed, the Silverlakes Brand Village Outlet will house over 150 shops in a built-up area of about 400,000 sq ft.
With a land size of 240 acres, phase one also comprises the 4-star Ramada Convention Hotel with 220 rooms and a convention centre that is able to accommodate 1,200 people.
Coming up next to the outlet, the hotel and convention centre are expected to commence construction by end-2018.
About 40% of phase one will be made up of an existing lake.
Meanwhile, phase two will see the development of modern gated-and-guarded lakeside residential enclaves comprising lake-view townhouses, courtyard homes and lakeside villas across 180 acres of wetlands surrounded by beautiful lakes.
The homes will be aimed at the Kinta Valley, holiday homes, foreign (including Malaysia My 2nd Home programme) and local high-end retirement markets.
In phase 3, Silverland Capital will embark on a private lakeside pool villa boutique resort development, which will be named The Cocoon.
The phase will tentatively have 88 units of 1- and 2-bedroom villas.
The developer plans to submit the development order for the phase in 2019 and to launch it in 2020.