Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on October 22, 2018 - October 28, 2018

Those driving along Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP) may have noticed a new building next to Paradigm Mall Petaling Jaya. Named Sapphire Paradigm Residences, the 29-storey high-rise is the latest and last component of WCT Holdings Bhd’s RM1.8 billion Paradigm integrated commercial development. The other components are the mall, The Ascent corporate tower, New World Petaling Jaya Hotel and The Azure Residences.

“We deliberately delayed the launch of Sapphire Paradigm because we wanted to market it differently. It has a build-then-sell concept,” says Kim Neoh, sales and marketing director of WCT Land Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of WCT Holdings.

“This concept has a lot of advantages because owner-occupiers do not have to wait three years for their property to be completed. It is also good for investors because they would have a ready unit to rent out. So, we think that this concept has more advantages than a normal development sales concept,” she explains.

Not many developers use the build-then-sell concept as a higher financial outlay is required to complete a project before it can be sold. Neoh says this has not been a problem for the WCT group.

“It shows the strength of a developer — that you are able to hold on to a development without having to sell the units first, and only selling them upon completion. I think it shows how committed we are in terms of developing our projects. And how we manage this is very simple. We do not saddle our customers with the cost. We actually manage the cost and ultimately, what you get is a very fairly priced property that is ready for you to move into.”


Move-in ready
Sapphire Paradigm Residences offers 229 units with two, three or four bedrooms. Built-ups range from 1,001 to 1,722 sq ft, and the starting price is RM950,000 or RM950 psf. Each unit comes with kitchen cabinets, a hood and hob, and water heaters in all the bathrooms. There are also air conditioners for the living room, bedrooms and study room.  Two parking bays are allocated to each unit. The maintenance fee is expected to be 30 sen to 40 sen psf. Sitting on 1.5 acres, the project has a gross development value of RM300 million.

“Sapphire Paradigm Residences is connected to the mall via the basement carpark, which means you are protected from the sun and the rain,” says Neoh. “That is the beauty of this project — you do not have to go outside to get to the other components.”

It is targeted at professionals between the age of 30 and 50, young families and seniors who are either empty nesters who want to downsize or want a place where the amenities and facilities are close at hand.

Each floor has 10 units, served by four lifts and a separate service lift. The facilities include a skydeck with a 30m infinity pool, wading pool, Jacuzzi and glass-walled floating gymnasium with a view of the skylines of Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya. There is a grand lobby to welcome residents home as well as a playground, badminton and squash courts, a reading room, a multipurpose room, car wash bays and a barbecue deck.

Sapphire Paradigm Residences is accessible via the LDP, New Klang Valley Expressway, SPRINT Highway, Penchala Link and Federal Highway. The Kelana Jaya, Lembah Subang, Ara Damansara and Glenmarie LRT stations are within a 1.5km radius of the development. There is a free shuttle service to the Kelana Jaya LRT station, and airport shuttle services to Kuala Lumpur International Airport and klia2 are provided at Paradigm Mall PJ.

Neoh is confident that the group will see brisk sales for the development. “We are actually confident that we will sell very well because we have been getting a lot of enquiries from groups that want to buy in bulk, like 30 to 40 units.”


New developments
Down south, WCT Holdings’ Paradigm Mall Johor Bahru, which opened at the end of last year, is doing exceptionally well, says director of corporate strategy Ng Chee Kiet.

“The mall sees footfall of 100,000 on weekends, and has reached 92% occupancy. When we first opened, it was about 70%. Key tenants include Parkson that occupies 200,000 sq ft, GSC with 16 screens and Village Grocer,” he says, adding that its skating rink and wall climbing facility are popular with visitors.

Paradigm Mall Johor Bahru has a net lettable area of 1.3 million sq ft, with 500 outlets and 4,200 parking bays.

Besides the mall, which is part of an integrated development, there are plans for two towers — a serviced residences and a hotel. “They will sit atop the mall, with separate entrances,” says Ng.

“We are targeting the launch of the serviced residences in the first half of next year,” says Neoh. The plans are still being finalised but the estimated GDV of the development — which will have 263 units — is RM190 million to RM200 million, she adds.

As for the hotel, Ng says, “We are talking to a couple of hotel operators but nothing has been finalised. We are targeting about 200 keys.”

Sapphire Paradigm Residences is the property developer’s only launch this year, although it is aiming to launch three projects next year — the Paradigm Johor Bahru serviced residences, and one development each in Mont’Kiara and OUG. Details of the projects are still being worked out.

Meanwhile, Neoh and Ng are optimistic that the property market will improve in the second half of next year.

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