This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on July 15, 2024 - July 21, 2024

When the main street of a town starts to look tired and run down, it can make the entire area feel the same. A new and modern commercial centre can breathe new life into the area.

“A thriving commercial hub plays an important role in reviving an old town [like Kundang]. It can add the energy that was maybe missing before. Creating a new commercial hub to bring in new businesses not only serves the local community better, it will also increase local economic activity and bring vibrancy to the place. [The lack of commercial hubs in Kundang] is why many of the residents here have to do their grocery shopping or get their daily needs, like childcare centres, salons or workshops, in commercial hubs at more established areas nearby, such as Sungai Buloh or Rawang, before they come back home here,” SMD Group of Companies’ founder and CEO Datuk Jeffery Tan tells City & Country.

The lack of modern shoplots and a growing population as a result of the many ongoing township developments nearby prompted Tan to earmark more than half of its first mixed-use development — Serai Park Avenue — for commercial use.

Serai Park Avenue is located in the centre of Bandar Baru Kundang and a stone’s throw from Kundang’s main street, Jalan Pekan 1, which houses two rows of old but fully occupied shoplots. These shoplots serve as the town’s business centre currently.

The 35-acre Serai Park Avenue has a gross development value (GDV) of RM336 million and will be developed over three phases.

The mixed-use development master plan was unveiled in mid-2023. The first and third phases comprise residential developments while the second phase — the 12-acre Serai Avenue — has 104 shoplots.

“Serai Avenue is poised to be the new heartbeat of Kundang as it is strategically located in the heart of Bandar Baru Kundang. Apart from the shoplots, we are also bringing in the first hypermarket in Kundang — Econsave — to cater to the daily needs of the local community,” Tan says.

He adds that the four-acre turnkey hypermarket project will be completed by end-2024 and is expected to open in the first half of next year.

Serai Avenue will offer 104 two- and three-storey shoplots with a land size of 20ft by 70ft and built-ups starting from 2,656 sq ft. The selling price starts at RM1.368 million. The soft launch for the project, with has a GDV of RM210 million, has been set for July 20.

“Serai Avenue will be launched in three phases — Phases 1A, 1B and 1C. We opened Phase 1A for sale in December last year, and 70% of the total 30 units have been sold so far. [While] we are very confident of this product, the market response has still been beyond our expectations,” says Tan with a smile.

He adds that most of the buyers are investors who are familiar with the area and are confident about Kundang’s property outlook.

“Kundang now is like Sungai Buloh 20 years ago, when the real estate market started to pick up as more big developers came in to develop the area. It will usually take about 10 to 20 years to see a township mature and flourish, so we are now at the beginning of the cycle of Kundang’s property boom.

“Serai Avenue is the first large-scale commercial hub in Kundang. It is adjacent to the upcoming hypermarket in the town, and only a few minutes away from the highway interchange and Gamuda Gardens and Garden Park (townships by Gamuda Land). Our shoplots will enjoy a catchment of 102,000 people and the number will grow rapidly as more people move into Kundang in the coming years,” Tan elaborates.

Apart from the 810-acre Gamuda Gardens and 532-acre Gardens Park, the other ongoing township developments nearby are the 166-acre Scientex Kundang Jaya by Scientex Bhd (KL:SCIENTX) and the 70-acre Myra Gardens by OIB Group (KL:OIB), he adds.

“The target market for Serai Avenue is local businesses to cater to the daily needs of the local community, while the upcoming Garden Square (Gamuda Gardens’ retail component) is an al fresco concept retail lot that is expected to focus more on F&B. So, we are not competing but complementing each other.”

Due to the overwhelming response to the first phase of Serai Avenue, the developer may bring forward the launch of Phase 1B to end-2024 from the first half of 2025.

Phase 1B will have 39 units of shoplots, while Phase 1C will have 35 units, which Tan says will be launched in due course. “The last phase enjoys better visibility as it is across the road from the hypermarket. It also means that these units will have more parking bays. They are closest to the entry and exit point of the project to Jalan Lagong (the key access road between Rawang and Kundang currently).”

The first phase of Serai Park Avenue — Serai Residence, which was officially launched last year — is 97% sold. It has been completed and is pending issuance of the Certificate of Completion and Compliance.

“Serai Residence was completed six months ahead of schedule. If everything goes smoothly, we should be able to hand over the keys to our buyers within the next few months. SMD Group is one of the pioneer developers in Kundang, starting with an industrial project in 2011. We have a very good reputation and the local community is familiar with us. It is why when the local landowner approached us to develop this 35-acre land in Kundang, we could not afford to fail them. We have to make it right and design for the local community,” Tan explains.

Having developed property in Kundang over the past 13 years, he is aware that the local community prefers individual-titled landed houses with spacious layouts that are priced affordably. The buyers also want basic common facilities such as open fields, and gated and guarded services with lower maintenance costs. All these features have been incorporated into Serai Residence, which explains its impressive take-up rate despite the housing market in Kundang being competitive.

Serai Residence has 37 units of 2-storey individual-titled terraced houses with three land sizes — 20ft by 65ft, 22ft by 65ft and 22ft by 60ft. The built-ups range from 1,913 to 2,310 sq ft while the selling price starts at RM506,385. Most of the buyers are from the vicinity, with a minority from Petaling Jaya, Kepong and Batu Caves.

“We only have a handful of bumiputera lots available at Serai Residence now. The demand for landed houses in Kundang is strong because of their affordability and good future prospects. We have maintained our selling price despite the fact that construction costs have increased by 15% due to the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war. Instead of reviewing the selling price or compromising on the building quality, we squeezed our margin and went full speed in construction [because] this project is more than just profit-making for us; it is a milestone for our company,” he stresses.

Tan says the last phase of Serai Park Avenue will be a residential development with some retail lots. While the details are still being finalised, he says it is designed to fill a gap in the local market, just like Serai Residence. The developer is looking to launch this phase in the next 12 to 18 months.

SMD is also working on its second mixed-use development, which is located a few kilometres from Serai Park Avenue.

“It is a 19-acre development that will focus more on landed residential. Most likely, we will continue to offer individual-titled landed houses to serve the niche group of homebuyers who prefer more freedom to personalise their houses, as well as lower monthly maintenance fees,” Tan says, adding that the project will have an estimated GDV of RM300 million and is expected to be launched in 2027.

In addition, it is developing four purpose-built factory plots with a combined land size of four acres and a total GDV of RM30 million.

“Industrial property is our bread and butter. We have developed and delivered two industrial parks in Kundang and have an ongoing industrial park in Rawang called Saujana Teknologi Rawang, for which we are looking to hand over the keys [of the last phase] to buyers by the end of this year. The entire project is fully sold,” Tan says.

Saujana Teknologi Rawang has 100 semi-detached and detached factories with office space. The project is being developed over two phases. The first phase has been fully sold and handed over, and is currently fully occupied mostly by local businesses. The second phase is slated for completion this year.

“We are on the lookout for more potential land bank for both industrial parks and purpose-built facilities because we are optimistic about the segment. We believe that the demand will continue to be strong as the e-commerce industry continues to grow,” he explains.

Nevertheless, Tan says it is important to diversify its product range to mitigate risk as the company is expanding, hence the launch of Serai Park Avenue last year. “Moving forward, we are looking to achieve an equal share of industrial, commercial and residential products in SMD’s portfolio.”

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