MAH Sing Group Bhd plans to develop a 1 million sq ft shopping mall for the Southbay City mixed-development project on a 13.7ha site in Batu Maung, Penang, next year.

Group chief operating officer Teh Heng Chong said the shopping mall would be positioned to attract shoppers from the northern region market.

“Once the second Penang bridge is ready next year, we can anticipate a strong flow of visitors from Seberang Prai to the island.

“Thus, we want to have a mall in Southbay City to tap into the business opportunities from the north and Seberang Prai,” he said in an interview.

He said they planned to start the project’s construction next year, adding that they had yet to work out the cost of the mall which would be part of the approved Southbay City master plan.

On the two residential suite towers in the RM329mil Southbay Plaza, which is part of the Southbay City project, he said Mah Sing had sold the bulk of the units for both the towers.

“Since the launch of the two towers late last month, we have sold 80% of 106 units belonging to the 32-storey Tower A and 75% of 100 units belonging to the 31- storey Tower B.

“The Tower A and Tower B units with built-up areas of between 1,107sq ft and 1,761sq ft, and 1,433sq ft and 1,714sq ft respectively, are sold from RM830,000 and RM1.2mil onwards,” he said adding that most of the units would be sea-fronting.

Teh said the two residential towers would be equipped with facilities such as infinity pools and gymnasiums.

“Below the two towers is a four-storey shopping podium with 100,000sq ft of retail space.

“There are a total of 731 car parking bays, of which 213 bays are for the commercial scheme while the rest are for theresidential suites,” he added.

Teh said the Southbay Plaza residential suites sold well because they were near to Queens-bay Mall, Eastin Hotel, Equatorial Hotel, Penang International Airport, and 1km away from the second bridge.

He said the entire Southbay City project would take five to eight years to complete.

Source: The Star