This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on April 11, 2022 - April 17, 2022

Located in Taman Sri Bahtera and diagonally across from Taman Midah, Jalan Lanchang in Cheras enjoys a prominent position, as most of the street faces Jalan Cheras, the main thoroughfare.

Jalan Lanchang starts from the junction of Jalan Jalak, with 2-storey terraced homes lining the first half of the two-way street. This section is tucked away from the main road, being shielded by greenery and other buildings.

The subsequent portion of Jalan Lanchang has main road frontage and comprises the housing estate’s commercial area, which has a mix of shopoffices and standalone commercial buildings. The row of 4-storey shopoffices comprises mostly a mix of F&B outlets and services on the ground floor.

There is also an aesthetic clinic, a veterinary clinic, hair salon, boutique hotel and wedding studio. Like other commercial areas, the higher floors are occupied by services and trading companies such as a beauty salon, college, staffing agency and real estate agency.

From there, Jalan Lanchang then becomes a one-way street, lined with standalone commercial buildings such as Wisma TT, a car dealership, Cycle & Carriage Bintang Cheras, Wisma CKE, Proton showroom, OldTown White Coffee Cheras, furniture showroom, Toyota Malaysia Cheras and Xiao En Centre. The street subsequently leads to Jalan Kuari.

“Lanchang”, or “lancang”, is a Malay word that refers to a traditional warship that was able to sail with great speed. The word itself implies “gliding” or “sliding”. The official vessel of the Sultans of Melaka, it was usually referred to as “lanchang kuning”, owing to the royal colour, yellow.

Metro Homes Realty Bhd executive director See Kok Loong says a 4-storey intermediate shopoffice was sold for RM2.5 million in 2018. It has a lot area of 22ft by 75ft, or 1,650 sq ft, and a built-up area of 6,381 sq ft. The Valuation and Property Services Department has no transaction records there for 2019 and 2020.

Other than the shopoffices, See says, the other properties are industrial and used as car showrooms. There has been no transaction recorded for these industrial lots for the past 10 years.

See says rents for the ground floor shops are RM5,000 to RM6,000 a month.  Units on the higher floors come with lifts, and the rent is RM1,800 to RM2,200 a floor.

“The rental markets in this part of Cheras have been very strong because of the shopoffices’ frontage of Jalan Cheras. The accessibility is also good, as it is near Middle Ring Road 2 and within walking distance of the Taman Midah MRT station,” he adds.

“Prices and rents have been stable. The prospects for this part of Cheras is good, owing to the heavy traffic on Jalan Cheras and the ample parking lots available. The only setback will be that these properties are leasehold, which will expire around 2077, which is another 55 years.”

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