Ideal Property to soft-launch Queens Residences

PENANG-based developer Ideal Property Group plans to launch RM2.723 billion worth of condominium projects, with more than 3,600 units in total, on the island this year.

Having launched the RM378 million SummerSkye Residences in Bayan Lepas, it is now looking to unveil its biggest project in terms of value in the area — Queens Waterfront. Executive chairman and CEO Datuk Alex Ooi says the freehold development sits on 36.53 acres, of which 24.79 acres are reclaimed land.

With a total gross development value (GDV) of RM2.15 billion, the development will comprise an 11.74-acre residential component known as Queens Residences, a 6.1-acre marina, a waterfront promenade known as Queens Waterfront Promenade, the Queens Sports Centre and an international school.

“The sports centre will have a 200m velodrome, basketball and volleyball courts, a Fina (Fédération Internationale de Natation) standard competition pool and diving pool as well as a leisure football field,” says Ooi. “The centre will be given to the state government upon its completion in 2019 and it will be open to the public.”

Queens Waterfront Promenade will be a public pathway with viewing decks, open plazas and a place for gatherings with seating, playground and kite-flying area. It will feature three concepts — marine life, sculpture park and beach habitat.

According to Ooi, Queens Residences will have four blocks of 22, 24, 26 and 30 storeys respectively. They will be launched over four phases.

Phase 1 will have 500 units in a 22-storey tower and will be soft-launched this month. The units will have built-ups of 950 to 1,650 sq ft and be partially furnished. With an average selling price of RM780 psf, the phase has a GDV of RM550 million.

Facilities of the residential component include a seafront garden, children’s pool, infinity pool and sandpit.

“Queens Waterfront will be located next to Queensbay Mall and will face Jerejak Island,” says Ooi. “The residential component will be on part of the reclaimed land and there will be more than 2,100 units. We have already started the reclamation works and will start the piling works early next year.”

For the development, Ideal Property is targeting property investors from Penang and abroad, residents from neighbouring states who are looking for holiday homes as well as expatriates and professionals from the Bayan Lepas Free Trade Zone.

“I choose to develop projects on the island because developments there have higher density and it is easier to attract buyers … some 30% to 40% of my sales come from Kedah, Butterworth and north Perak,” Ooi explains.

Phase 2, meanwhile, will be launched early next year.

“The unique selling point of the development is that it is located opposite a well-known shopping mall, Queensbay Mall, and it is well connected via the Bayan Lepas Expressway, Penang bridge and Penang second bridge,” Ooi says.

“Also, it is surrounded by major amenities such as the Penang International Airport, Penang Golf Club in Jalan Bukit Jambul, Pantai Hospital Penang, Universiti Sains Malaysia and Penang International Convention and Exhibition Centre.”

Phases 1 and 2 will also have two storeys of commercial shoplots that Ideal Property plans to keep for recurring income. There will be a total of 72 units of 1,400 sq ft each.

With a plan to create an al fresco dining area similar to that of Clarke Quay in Singapore, the developer has engaged Singaporean architecture and design studio Lead8 for the commercial design of the shoplots. It has also appointed DTZ to bring in tenants for the shoplots.

The project’s symbolic icon is the regal seahorse that represents “the hope of the future and the promise of today”, says Ooi. There will be five towering seahorses encircling the driveway of the development, representing the unity of the universal elements and the proud heritage of the island, he adds.

Ooi established Ideal Property in 2002 with investment, property development and business process outsourcing as its core businesses. Its investment portfolio includes hotels, serviced apartments, commercial shoplots, development land, palm oil estates and office lots while its property development division is involved in the building of residential, commercial and light industrial properties and office suites.

Business process outsourcing comprises property design and concept service, property marketing advisory, property evaluation and monitoring services and project financing advisory services.

Ooi says the group had completed the construction of more than 10,000 condominium units from 2008 to 2015, and over 3,600 units are under construction now.

He has been the executive chairman of Ideal United Bintang Bhd (IdealUBB), an importer and exporter of used and reconditioned heavy machinery, since October 2013. There is an ongoing corporate exercise to turn IdealUBB into a property development company.

Ongoing projects and future launches

Ideal Property is also looking to unveil Forest Ville, Bukit Ayun Development and Amarene this year.

Scheduled to be launched by the end of this month, the RM495 million Forest Ville will have 991 condos with sizes ranging from 1,000 to 1,050 sq ft.

One of its developments that was launched recently, SummerSkye Residences, is a mixed-use project in Ideal Vision Park, Bayan Lepas. It will comprise 507 condos and 78 shopoffices.

The group’s other ongoing projects include I-Condo @ One Foresta, I-Condo @ I-Santorini, Tree Sparina, Imperial Residences and Solaria Residences. These developments are scheduled to be completed in the next two years.

This article first appeared in City & Country, a pullout of The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on June 6, 2016. Subscribe here for your personal copy.