Five-star hotel offers Balinese-inspired units with private pools

Unique development: Mohamad Hasan (second from left) looking at a model of The Hibiscus water homes project which will be built in Pasir Panjang.

The 323-villa Grand Lexis, whose Balinese-inspired units come with private pools, was officially opened in Port Dickson recently. The five-star hotel, previously known as the Legend International Water Homes, and which commands a majestic view of the Malacca Straits, now offers tourists 166 water homes, 118 garden homes and 39 skypool villas to choose from to make their stay a memorable one. The hotel as well as its sister property The Lexis Port Dickson located adjacent to it were built by KL Metro (KLM) Group at a cost of RM300mil and were already landmarks in this resort town.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan who launched the renaming ceremony said the popularity of both the properties would complement the state government’s efforts to boost tourism here. He said the fact that the two hotels had received some 550,000 guests with more than half being foreigners, was testimony that Port Dickson was an attractive holiday destination.

Since opening its doors in November 2009, Grand Lexis has attracted tourists from 59 countries, with the majority being from the Asia-Pacific region. “The state government has also come up with a blueprint prohibiting the setting up of any form of industries along the popular beach stretches here and for more concerted efforts to boost tourism related activites,” he said.
Mohamad said since the Federal Government has approved the construction of the KLIA-Seremban expressway under the Tenth Malaysia Plan (2011-2015), hoteliers should take advantage of this as travel time between the airport and the resort town would be reduced by half. “The KLIA-Seremban expressway will also link to the Seremban-PD highway providing an alternate way for motorists will be able to get to the resort town,” he added.

At the launch, KLM Group managing director Datuk Low Tak Fatt said the group would invest some RM400mil to build 642 high-end ocean villas under The Hibiscus Port Dickson project in Pasir Panjang. He said the outlay for the new five-star project, which was a joint venture with Mentri Besar Inc, would be unique as it would resemble the national flower, the bunga raya (hibiscus). “This will be the only water homes project in the country where each unit will have a private swimming pool as well as a sauna unit,” he said.

Low said phase one of The Hibiscus PD project comprising 108 units had been sold out. KLM, he said, will lease back the properties from the buyers with a guaranteed rental return of 7% per annum for the first four years and an option for renewal from the fifth to 15th year. The units will be priced from RM560,000 onwards and size will vary between 770 sq ft and 870 sq ft.
Low said construction of the first phase began in August and the entire project was slated for completion in early 2014. “We will build another 292 units under phase two and the remaining units will be completed under the third phase,” he said.

Set up in 1996, the KL Metro Group started with its construction arm YBK Engineering as a medium-sized contractor specialising in infrastructure and related construction works. It has since diverisified into hotel management, interior design and renovation, property consultancy and real estate investment.
-thestar online.
www.grandlexisportdickson.com