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When Mulpha International Bhd first acquired almost 2,000 acres of oil palm land at Gelang Patah — the southernmost tip of Johor — a quarter of a century ago, little did the developer know that it was going to turn out into an award-winning property development.
Initially made up of sprawling one-acre bungalow parcels marketed as “agricultural homesteads”, Leisure Farm was targeted at wealthy Singaporean retirees looking for enough space to swing a cat.
However, the parcels were eventually stitched together to form a total worth far more than the sum of their parts — a luxurious integrated strata township that boasts lush landscaping, at least two layers of round-the-clock security and a host of resort-style facilities. The entire project has a gross development value (GDV) of RM550 million and was inspired by the group’s Australian project Sanctuary Cove.
“We were inspired by Sanctuary Cove’s position as Australia’s leading integrated residential community, offering a unique lifestyle, magnificent facilities and 24-hour active land and water security, so we decided to model the master plan of Leisure Farm after the success of Sanctuary Cove,” Mulpha International chairman Lee Seng Huang tells The Edge.
The 1,171.28-acre Sanctuary Cove was acquired by Mulpha International in 2002 for A$208 million (about RM416 million). The township, which was already mostly built-up at this point, boasts two championship golf courses, four harbours, 15 restaurants and harbourside cafes, and other boutiques that overlook the 293-berth marina. In addition, the township has a recreational club, country club and a five-star InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort.
Back home in Johor, the charming, verdant township of Leisure Farm is home to 38 nationalities, many of them choosing Leisure Farm due to its proximity to Singapore as a regional hub. The other residents include a wide array of wildlife such as monkeys, cranes and snakes, as well as the dogs and horses, (yes, horses) that form part of the township’s security team.
Leisure Farm’s boasts impressive facilities such as the Balé Equestrian & Country Club, Kayu Manis Orchard, Canal Park, Health Farm, marina and clubhouse. The 260-acre, 36-hole championship Poresia Golf Course near the centre of the township was sold by Mulpha International to a Japanese operator many years ago.
All these are overseen by the township’s general manager Robert Marek, a former hotel general manager who has about 20 years of experience in hospitality. His last posting was at a five-star hotel in China. Marek was roped in to raise the level of service offered to residents.
In fact, some would say Leisure Farm was among the earliest development in the country with individual precincts and landscaped streets and parks. Senior sales manager Wayne Wong says the developer used the natural mangrove swamp and rivers that ran through the site as the basis of its landscaping to evoke a more natural ambience.
It is this pioneering tendency that helped the township to clinch The Edge Malaysia Notable Property Achievement Award 2015. The award recognises projects that demonstrate unique concepts and designs and the developer’s commitment to bringing them to life.
There are four types of homes on Leisure Farm. In ascending order of luxury, they are Bayou Garden, Bayou Creek, Luxury Villas and Private Reserve.
Bayou Garden and Bayou Creek are two enclaves that feature superlink homes, semi-detached houses and bungalows. The latter two types come with their own swimming pools.
The superlinks are already sold out. The, semi-detached houses have built-ups of 3,700 sq ft while the bungalows have built-ups of 4,100 to 4,500 sq ft.
The Luxury Villas are built on parcels that are a third to a half of an acre wide and have built-ups of 8,000 to 10,000 sq ft.
The crème de la-crème is the Private Reserve. These 1-storey bungalows are built on one-acre parcels with built-ups of at least 12,000 sq ft.
Lee estimates that the homes command a premium of 20% to 30% above similar properties in the vicinity, thanks to their facilities and environment.
“We stopped selling large plots because there are few left, so they are kind of a premium product. So, 18 months ago we auctioned off 10 parcels via restricted tenders. They were oversubscribed,” says Lee.
“It was not a private tender, but more of an expression of interest campaign, which was something we learned from Australia,” he says.
According to Lee, prices of the parcels have since gone up to over RM200 psf, with several Singaporean buyers continuously pushing up prices. He adds that many of these homes have also won awards and are the subject of many a sleek and glossy architecture magazine.
Wong acknowledges that safety was — and continues to be — a concern when living in Johor. Therefore, Leisure Farm has a gamut of security features that include perimeter fencing around the entire development and each precinct, motion sensors on the fences, CCTV cameras, and patrols with dogs and on horseback.
“Most residents feel so safe that they don’t lock their doors at night,” says Wong.
Strokes of luck
Innovative concepts and features are only the second part of the story. The true beginnings of Leisure Farm’s success story lie in an unexpected stroke of luck.
The township’s first boost came in 1992, when the Second Link to Singapore was announced. The new link would cut travelling time from the township to downtown Singapore by half to 30 minutes.
This made Leisure Farm an appealing prospect for Singaporeans who commute between their spacious homes in Johor to their more lucrative jobs back home.
Prices of land in the vicinity jumped after the announcement — from the RM9 psf Mulpha International had paid for the parcel to RM15 psf. When the bridge finally opened in 1998, prices then doubled to RM30 psf.
The developer’s good fortune continued when the Iskandar Malaysia growth corridor was initiated. Leisure Farm falls squarely in the middle of Flagship B, which the economic region’s Iskandar Regional Development Authority touts as a major new growth centre housing most of Iskandar’s major new catalysts.
These include Johor’s newest luxury enclave Puteri Harbour, international mixed-use development zone Medini Iskandar, Afiat Health Park, Legoland Malaysia, the Southern Industrial Logistics Clusters and Pinewood Studios. Investments worth billions of ringgit are expected to pour into these projects.
“Leisure Farm will benefit from being right in the middle of it all,” says Lee.
Wong recalls that when historical series Marco Polo was filmed, the show’s producers approached Leisure Farm to use its stables to house about 30 horses for the show and practice their fight scenes.
Other catalysts include the 305-acre EduCity, which has seven schools and universities such as Marlborough College and Raffles University. Leisure Farm is seeing more families whose children are enrolled at these schools moving into Leisure Farm, he says.
Leisure Farm is also neighbours with two of the largest developments in Iskandar – the 1,800-acre Sunway Iskandar by Sunway Bhd and 4,500-acre Gerbang Nusajaya by UEM Sunrise Bhd.
Sunway Iskandar will comprise six precincts that include hotels, themed malls and theme parks, education and health parks, and homes that range from the affordable to the luxurious.
Gerbang Nusajaya is expected to have a few catalyctic projects such as the 295-acre, RM3.5-billion Fastrack Motorsport City and 519-acre, RM3.7-billion Nusajaya Tech Park. However, the completion dates of these projects have not been set yet.
The Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail will have a stop in Nusajaya, although the actual site has not been confirmed yet.
Wong estimates that land in the area is currently transacting at RM150 to RM200 psf.
Bought in haste, sold at leisure
Poor sentiment from a huge influx of high-rise homes has engulfed Johor’s entire residential property market. This includes that of luxury landed homes within Nusajaya, with some developers reporting poor sales despite the properties’ proximity to Singapore and an array of other luxurious features.
Lee points out that given the premium nature of the townships, sales will be slower than other classes of townships. However, that is not necessarily a bad thing considering the weakness of the market now. In fact, Leisure Farm is able to hold back launches until the market recovers as the land was acquired cheaply a long time ago, he adds.
“We have the luxury of being able to sit back, and our total GDV will be a lot higher later than if we are going to completely sell now,” says Lee.
“That’s the privilege that Mulpha has. We bought this land at RM9psf. You can’t get land around here at this price anymore. A new developer comes in today, buys land at full market price, their pace is going to be very different from ours,” he says.
“Obviously since the early Nineties, the access and the surroundings have changed tremendously, as well as the dynamics of the region. You’re talking about the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail, more schools and universities, more employment, leisure, theme parks all around us.
Lee estimates that Leisure Farm has about 513 acres of undeveloped land left. This comprises 159 parcels of bungalow land that total 103 acres in five precincts, 210 acres of raw development land earmarked for residential development and 201 acres allocated for commercial developments.
“So how will we make Leisure Farm relevant for the next 10 to 20 years? We are undergoing a master planning exercise to take the township to the next level.
“Travelling times to Singapore have shortened considerably and land values have risen tremendously, so, we are looking at increasing the density and having more varied site usages,” he says.
This will entail introducing low-rise apartments and expanding its commercial precinct. While Leisure Farm is not looking at a large-scale retail centre, it does plan to add more lifestyle shops and upscale grocers to cater for the needs of its residents.
While the pace of Iskandar’s development has slowed a bit, more developers are making their presence felt there. Competitors have also begun to offer luxurious homes in the area, eating into Leisure Farm’s market share. Is Lee concerned?
“As a developer we face competition all the time. [Competitors] walk through our show houses and take pictures … they do it everywhere. We let them in because there’s nothing to hide. Information flows so fast now, you might as well be gracious about it, and hopefully they reciprocate and show us what they are doing, right?”
He adds that what is more important is to work together with their neighbours now for mutual prosperity.
“For example, Sunway and UEM Sunrise are building across from us, as are other developers, and they each have their own unique characteristics, so we should leverage each other rather than compete directly with them,” he says.
He also notes that there will be two interchanges coming out of Leisure Farm.
The first is the Gerbang Highway interchange. Mulpha International and UEM Sunrise had inked a memorandum of understanding with UEM Sunrise last year worth RM107 million to jointly develop the interchange, comprising a network of roads that will reduce travel time from Leisure Farm to the Second Link Expressway (Linkedua) by a third to just five minutes.
Next is is the Coastal Highway Southern Link, a 5.2km highway that will pass through the proposed Gerbang Nusajaya South Development and Leisure Farm, connecting Linkedua directly to Medini. Mulpha Interantional, UEM Sunrise, Sunway and Iskandar Investment Bhd will jointly build this road.
The new interchange will also enable residents to reach Johor Bahru’s central business district and Singapore more quickly. It will also join with highways leading to Kuala Lumpur.
Iskandar, and Malaysia as a whole, may be going through a tough patch currently but as far as Leisure Farm is concerned, the grass is still green here and it will only draw more people to its pastures. TEPEA 2015
This article first appeared in City & Country, a pullout of The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on Dec 7, 2015. Subscribe here for your personal copy.
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