THE year 2013 is pretty much a busy one for Dijaya Corp Bhd as it is planning some 12 launches spread over the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor. One of the more imminent ones include The W Hotel & The Residences, which deputy managing director of Dijaya Dickson Tan is personally spearheading.

Situated on 1.28 acres of freehold commercial land along Jalan Ampang, The W Hotels & The Residences will have 150 rooms while the residences will have 353 units.

In early 2011, Dijaya announced its partnership with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, to develop a W Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP from New York, The W Hotel & Residences will be located within the Golden Triangle and is situated along Jalan Ampang, across the Petronas Twin Towers. It is about 500 metres from the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

“The W Hotel will truly mark resort living in the city. You will forget that you are in the middle of a bustling city,” says Tan.

Another mixed development to be launched which is likely to garner interest in the 88 acre Tropicana Hills in Subang, which is a mixed development of condos, retail lots, offices and a shopping mall.

“I think what people want today is affordability. There is strong demand for properties below RM800,000. The trend is now moving away from landed properties because of the affordability factor,” says Tan.

Meanwhile, some of the properties being injected into Dijaya which are ready for development are in pretty prime spots. For example, in the Klang Valley, Dijaya will get its hands on pockets of land on Jalan Kia Peng and Jalan Bukit Bintang which are located in the city centre. In Penang, it has land along Jalan Macalister, while in Sabah it has land on Jalan Bundusan.

To be exact, the landbank with ready development orders include land in SS13, Subang Jaya (RM200mil), Jalan Kia Peng (RM330mil), Jalan Bukit Bintang (RM680mil), The Landmark (RM90mil), Jalan Segama, Lahad Datu (RM30mil) and Jalan Albert Kwok (RM60mil).

Key yielding assets include Dijaya Plaza, Jaya Square, Wisma TT and Casa Square in the Klang Valley, while in Sabah, there is Bangunan Blue 7.

As for the Johor property market, Tan says that the buoyancy of demand actually caught the company by surprise. For instance, Tower A of Tropez Residences which was launched last December, has recorded a take up rate of 90% (not taking into account the Bumiputera units), while Tower B and C which were launched this year have recorded take up rates of 87% and 22% respectively.

“Profile-wise, some 40% of the homebuyers are Johoreans, another 40% from the Klang Valley and the remainder Singaporeans,” says Tan.

Wanting to further capitalise on this growth, in June, Dijaya’s 80%-owned subsidiary, Aliran Peluang Sdn Bhd entered into a sales and purchase agreement to buy 11 parcels of land, measuring a total of 2.4 million sq ft, or 55.07 acres, in Mukim Pulai, Johor, for RM105.07mil.

Currently, Dijaya has four projects in Johor, namely Tropicana Danga Bay, Tropicana Danga Cove, Tropicana Senibong and now Mukim Pulai.

Dijaya has two joint ventures with Iskandar Waterfront Sdn Bhd for its projects in Danga Bay.

Tropicana Danga Bay is a 60:40 joint venture between Dijaya andIskandar Waterfront, with an expected GDV of RM3.8bil which will take an estimated eight to 10 years to complete.

Tropicana Danga Cove, with more than 220 acres, is earmarked to be developed into a new township with a GDV of RM2.9bil while the 37-acre Tropicana Danga Bay and the injected lands will be turned into a mixed development with a high GDV due to its proximity to city centre.

“It was just 5 years ago, that nobody believed the Johor story. However, maybe 5 to 10 years from today, once the infrastructure is complete and the MRT connecting Johor and Singapore is ready, think how prime and in-demand the Johor properties will be,” says Tan.

To date, Iskandar Malaysia has attracted investments of RM10.67bil in the first six months of 2012. Cumulative committed investments have reached RM95.45bil, represented mainly by Asia (42%) and Europe (40%).

Dickson says that the economic zone of Iskandar Malaysia will continue to be the driving factor in boosting the demand for properties in Johor Bahru.

For example, the completion of several major ongoing road and highway projects in Iskandar Malaysia such as the New Coastal Highway, Eastern Dispersal Link Expressway (EDL) and Senai-Pasir Gudang-Desaru Expressway and the widening of Permas Jaya bridge will improve connectivity within Johor Bahru.

“Upon completion and commencement of operations, such infrastructure developments will provide a boost to demand of properties in Johor Bahru due to better connectivity. This augurs well for our developments, which are located within the central business district of Iskandar Development Corridor,” says Tan.

As for Penang, Dijaya has a 55:45 joint venture with Ivory Properties Group Bhd to develop a 41.02ha development in Bayan Mutiara. The joint-venture company, Tropicana Ivory Sdn Bhd will undertake a mixed residential and commercial property project with a GDV of RM9.8bil over the next eight to 12 years. The land was sold for RM1.07bil, or RM240 per sq ft, to be paid over five years

Last November, Ivory announced that it was entering into a 49:51 joint venture with Dijaya to develop Bayan Mutiara.

In March it received shareholder approval for its plan to purchase and develop this piece of land. Tan adds that the masterplan has yet to be submitted, as it is still in the planning stage. The project will be called Penang World City.

“It will include a mixed development, which includes high-rise residential as well as commercial components such as shopping mall, board walk al fresco dining area, hotel and an office tower,” said Dickson.

“Acquisitions of development lands in Penang Island by developers have been active in 2011. We are upbeat about the potential growth of the Penang property market, especially with government initiatives to improve the infrastructure and further attracting investments into Penang,” says Tan.

Source: The Star