This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on July 11, 2022 - July 17, 2022

Located within Taman Taynton View in Cheras, Jalan Dato Haji Harun is a main street that comprises both landed homes and shops. Formerly known as Taynton Rubber Estate, Taman Taynton View was subsequently developed by lawyer-cum-developer N Kamala Devi in the 1960s and it is believed that Jalan Dato Haji Harun is named after his long-time friend.

Taman Taynton View is located off Jalan Cheras and next to Taman Mutiara Barat. If you are on Jalan Cheras coming from Kajang and heading towards the direction of Kuala Lumpur city centre, you will first have to turn onto Jalan Dato Haji Harun before heading to other parts of Taman Taynton View.

The almost 1km-long Jalan Dato Haji Harun has many road branches and stops at Jalan 54/119. Landed houses — a mix of semidees and terraced homes — occupy the first half of the street. After the junction of Jalan Arasakesari, one will see a row of terraced shops on the right and a row of terraced homes on the left.

Metro Homes Realty Bhd executive director See Kok Loong observes that most businesses at the shops on Jalan Dato Haji Harun are very old.

“Most of the shops, especially those with older businesses, are owner-occupied. The new tenants are PotboyMart, J&T Express and ParcelHub whereas the rest of them have been there for more than 10 years,” See says.

“[In general], the businesses there, which cater mainly for the neighbourhood, include hardware shops, hair salons, restaurants, ­[Chinese] medicine shops, mini markets, printing companies, tailors and car workshops. We noticed that only a few units were vacant, so it means that demand there is very strong. While Jalan Dato Haji Harun is not facing the main thoroughfare of Jalan Cheras, it remains a very busy road for the neighbourhood and that means the businesses there are good.”

He adds that the challenges for the shops there include a lack of parking lots, not unlike many other commercial streets in the Klang Valley. Also, Jalan Dato Haji Harun is located in an older estate and has to compete with other shops nearby.

“In this case, there are some shops on Jalan 30a/119, which is just around the corner. Also, the entire area is already developed and there is no more land for development. Therefore, parking would remain an unresolved issue for Jalan Dato Haji Harun,” he says.

Several visits by City & Country to Jalan Dato Haji Harun show the differences in terms of parking conditions. Parking is an issue on weekdays, but there were relatively more street parking bays on the Sunday late afternoon when City & Country was there.

In recent years, few shops have been transacted on Jalan Dato Haji Harun. According to data from See, the latest transaction was in August 2014, where a shop with a land area of 1,657 sq ft and built-up of 2,673 sq ft was sold at RM1.1 million.

Earlier, in May that year, a shop with a land area of 1,646 sq ft and built-up of 2,793 sq ft was transacted at RM1.5 million. A 1,657 sq ft shop with similar built-up was sold at RM1.6 million in February 2014.

See reckons that the prospects of the shops on Jalan Dato Haji Harun are stable and he expects to see no major changes.

“The rental would remain the same and increase according to the inflation rate. The rent for a ground-floor unit there is RM4,000 to RM5,000 a month; and for a first-floor unit, it is RM1,000 to RM1,500 a month,” he says.

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