i-City to change Shah Alam property landscape

Artist impression of the RM5bil i-City development

A trip to the i-City township in Shah Alam points to numerous possibilities for the landscape of the area which is being developed by I-Bhd. The plans that I-Bhd has in store for the entire area could move the township up a notch in the property scene and eventually change the overall skyline of the the wider Shah Alam city and its flagship i-City property development.

Vehicles are today already presently occupying almost all of the open air carpark space even on a weekday afternoon while several cranes are noticeable from afar, proof that its development is moving ahead as planned.

Those cranes have been set up to construct i-City’s modern high-rise developments and these will likely change the property and population dynamics in the wider area as it will be one of the few large-scale high-rise developments in the city of Shah Alam.

In the weekends, crowds from near and afar come to experience its theme park attractions with the latest being the Tornado water slide ride at WaterWorld. And those changes are already having a telling impact on the bottomline of the developer.

I-Bhd executive chairman Tan Sri Lim Kim Hong tells StarBizWeek that i-City’s skyline will be completely changed in the next decade and will sport high-rise residences, a hotel, mall and a convention centre.

“The skyline of i-City will be completely changed in the next 10 years as we gear up to progressively launch the future phases of this development. Response so far to our launches has been very good,” Lim says. “We (I-Bhd) have demonstrated that high-rise developments have arrived in Shah Alam city and at a benchmark price. Historically, Shah Alam has always (consisted) of low-rise residences because of the ample land space, so nobody builds upwards. This is not low-cost high rise but at a benchmark price,” Lim adds.

I-Bhd’s two high rises – the i-Residence and the i-SOVO (small office versatile office) – have been sold out.

i-Residence with an estimated gross development value (GDV) of RM232mil is targeted for completion in early 2015 and the RM64mil GDV i-SOVO is targeted for completion in the third quarter of 2014.

The i-Residence comprises 346 units of condominiums in two side-by-side 33-storey towers and 20 units of low-rise duplex villas. While the i-SOVO is part of a two-tower development on top of the car park podium, with another 216-room three-star hotel.

Property prices at these developments have also been on an uptrend, tracking the larger upward trend of property prices in the Klang Valley. “When we first launched i-Residence, the first tower was selling for slightly below RM500 per sq ft (psf) However, the second tower saw an escalation in value. On the overall, the average selling price for i-Residence was RM530 psf,” Lim says.

Lim: ‘We have demonstrated that high-rise developments have arrived in Shah Alam and at a benchmark price’.

For the i-SOVO that we launched a few months after the i-Residence, the average selling price was RM550 psf. We are today offering our i-SOHO for about RM600 psf,” he adds.

Future developments

Lim says more launches are planned ahead as to date only less than 20% of the land identified for the i-City project have been developed while completed built-up accounts for less than 5% of the approved built up size. “One can imagine prospects of future developments in the pipeline. We have thus far completed 5% or RM250mil from the project’s RM5bil GDV,” he says.

A light rail transit (LRT) station will possibly be situated at the township and the request is now in the hands of the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) which will decide on the matter.

“This final decision is by the authorities, not us. The lines have not been planned but the local council has submitted a request to recommend for SPAD to locate a station here. We think that it is a step in the right direction since the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) has recognised this,” he says.

According to the model township design at its iGallery showcase sales centre, an LRT station is also proposed and the station eyes the connection to the present Kelana Jaya Line. Should this public transportation facility be built according to plan, it will help reduce congestion once the high-density projects dot the area.

To further enhance the appeal of i-City as a modern township, I-Bhd last year signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Thai-based mall designer specialist Central Pattana Public Co Ltd (CPN) to jointly build a mall at i-City.

“Over the past few months, we have been working closely with Central Group to re-design the mall to cater to the needs of Thai retailers. Although this has somehow affected the mall’s development, we are doing our utmost to ensure that even if we cannot meet our completion target, we shall strive to minimise the delay period,” Lim says. Lim adds that the company is expected to finalise these plans and sign a joint development agreement for this purpose next month.

The mall had originally been planned for completion in 2015 and has total gross floor area of about 1.7 million sq ft with estimated gross development costs of RM500mil and RM600mil.

I-Bhd through its unit i-City Properties Sdn Bhd intends to hold 40% stake and CPN through its local subsidiary the remainder in the joint venture company. Looking ahead after the completion of this planned mall, there are plans to relocate parts of the theme park developments at their present sites inside the mall and to its small office home office (Soho) development.

“How this leisure segment (theme parks) came about in the first place is that a lot of the development land the company had was idle. So I was thinking of how to create revenue while property developments took place. That’s how ideas such as the City of Lights and the theme park eventually came about,” Lim says.

“Although the theme park gives us a 40% return (on investments), in terms of development, property development profits are higher than the theme park. Even if you forecast the leisure income, it is not as good as (property development) profits. We still have to decide where to relocate the water ride,” he adds.

According to Lim, the relocation of the theme park will free up necessary space for the rest of the high rises planned for the area: the i-SOHO and the Grand i-Residence.

I-Bhd is among developers, namely MK Land Holdings Bhd, Sunway Bhd and the Sentoria Group Bhd, that have embarked on both property and leisure property development models. MK Land had developed the Bukit Merah Laketown Resort, Sunway has Sunway Lagoon and Sentoria developed the Bukit Gambang Resort City.

The company also has other launches on its plate and it plans to launch a 50-storey high rise development at Kuala Lumpur City Centre located at Jalan Changkat Kia Peng with GDV of RM500mil. Lim says the launch is planned for the end of this year but is keeping most other finer details close to his chest for now.

I-Bhd’s focus will be what’s on its plate for now – the i-City property development. The second leg of i-City will be what’s known as i-City South, a 7-acre data centre complex opposite the existing i-City site on the other side of the Federal Highway.

Lim says the company is in the planning stages of this development and it intends to launch i-City South within the next four years. “In three to four years time when the area is further developed, we can then start thinking of i-City South which is based on the same concept of i-City. But at this point, we are looking at it as a data centre complex,” he says.

Meanwhile, the MBSA is in the midst of building a connection from the Federal Highway to the i-City development.

-thestar online.