Ascott to manage its first serviced residence in Iskandar, Malaysia

CapitaLand’s wholly-owned serviced residence business unit, Ascott, is pleased to announce that it has won a contract to manage its first serviced residence in Iskandar, the southern gateway of Malaysia, namely, Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar, which is scheduled to open in 2013.

 

CEO, Ascott, Lim Ming Yan commented: “Malaysia has strong growth potential for Ascott due to its resilient economy and attractiveness as a destination for foreign direct investments. The government has invested significant resources to develop the Iskandar region to spur the growth of Malaysia’s economy.

 

“Besides attracting investments of over some $22.4 billion from foreign and domestic companies, the large-scale tourism projects in Iskandar also bring tremendous opportunities for serviced residences.

 

“As the first international serviced residence provider in Nusajaya, Ascott is well positioned to tap into the burgeoning demand for quality accommodation from expatriates and travellers.”

 

“We now have a strong growth pipeline of more than 900 units which are scheduled to open in Malaysia over the next five years. In total, this brings our Malaysian portfolio to over 1,600 units.”

 

Managing director, Ascott – south-east Asia and Australia, Alfred Ong added: “Ascott expanded into Cyberjaya and Petaling Jaya earlier this year and we are pleased to add another city to our Malaysian network.

 

“Our entry into Iskandar further strengthens Ascot’s leadership position as the largest international serviced residence owner and operator in Malaysia. We currently operate five properties with close to 700 apartment units.

 

“With this new property in Iskandar, we now have a strong growth pipeline of more than 900 units which are scheduled to open in Malaysia over the next five years. In total, this brings our Malaysian portfolio to over 1,600 units. We will continue to look for opportunities to expand our footprint in Malaysia.”

 

The 204-unit Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar is strategically located within Nusajaya, home to developments such as EduCity which houses several world-class university campuses, Medini which encompasses business and leisure districts, the Southern Industrial and Logistics Clusters, and Afiat Healthpark.

 

It is a 20-minute drive from the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link and 25 minutes away from Johor’s Senai International Airport. It is also easily accessible via the soon-to-be-opened coastal highway which links Nusajaya to the main Johor city centre and the Johor-Singapore Causeway.

 

Furthermore, it is only 10 minutes away from the first Legoland theme park in Asia, which is expected to open in 2012.

 

As part of the luxurious waterfront development of Puteri Harbour, Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar is set to offer gusts fine dining restaurants, al-fresco cafés and an indoor theme park.

 

Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar offers spacious apartments ranging from studios to three-bedroom units that come fully furnished with modern amenities.

 

With facilities such as a gymnasium, swimming pool, restaurant and residents’ lounge available in the property, Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar is designed to provide the ideal home away from home for travellers and their families to live, work and play.

 

Besides Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar, Ascott plans to open Citadines Uplands Kuching in 2012, Ascott Sentral Kuala Lumpur in 2013, Citadines D'Pulze Cyberjaya in 2014 and Somerset Damansara Uptown Petaling Jaya in 2016.

-TTG MENA.