KUALA LUMPUR: Property developer Mah Sing Group Bhd is confident that the recently completed Southgate project in Sungei Besi here will be a success and the group plans to replicate the model elsewhere- Mah Sing Properties Sdn Bhd chief operating officer Andy Chua feels that there are at least two other other locations where the Southgate model can be duplicated - in Johor and Penang- Chua, however, said they must be in the right location- Southgate, a development project on 1-93ha with RM466 million gross development value, comprises office-cum-retail building- All units have been sold- The project, comprises two main blocks - Apex and the Corporate Building - and three other blocks named Vox, Vivo and Vertex- Together, they offer 600,000 sq ft of net lettable area- The eight-storey main block has three storeys of retail space and is owned by Kooperasi Permodalan Felda Bhd- Felda bought this block for RM226 million and has leased it back to Mah Sing's unit- For the first two years, Felda will receive a guaranteed 8 per cent monthly rental based on the purchase price- Thus far, 60 per cent of the main block has been leased- Total retail leasable area is 200,000 sq ft in Southgate, of which 40 per cent is yet to be rented out-Chua expects the retail portion to be 90 per cent tenanted within a year's time- The average rental for the retail portion on the ground floor is RM10 per sq ft, including service charge- "This is not a conventional mall- It is more like street mall, where it is about al fresco dining where one can have a stroll- It is a covered area, but sunlight can come in," he told Business Times in an interview- The tenants are predominantly from food and beverage business, he added- Its retail tenants include Nichi Fashion, Georgeous, OverTime, Papa King and Sushi King- Southgate's target market during the day will see the the office tenants complementing the retail component- At the same time, Chua expects people driving by the area to stop for breakfast and lunch at Southgate- He said for dinner, Southgate will attract those heading home from Kuala Lumpur and will use the place as a meeting point- "This is the southern gateway out of KL," he added- ...
More
