This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on July 29, 2024 - August 4, 2024

Standing as the tallest residential twin towers in Southeast Asia and the tallest building in the country outside of Kuala Lumpur at 1,020ft (72-storey Tower A) and 915ft (67-storey Tower B), The Astaka @ One Bukit Senyum in Johor Bahru is an icon in its own right. Managing an iconic property certainly comes with added expectations.

“There’s never been a compromise for us in terms of the level of [management and maintenance] at The Astaka. Security, cleaning and all other services that are required have to be of a high standard,” says Knight Frank Property Management Sdn Bhd (KFPM) managing director ­Kuruvilla Abraham.

The freehold luxury condominium was completed in June 2018 and comprises 435 units, including penthouse duplexes, with built-ups ranging from 2,207 to 12,700 sq ft. The property is part of the larger 11.85-acre integrated One Bukit Senyum development by Astaka Padu Sdn Bhd in Bukit Senyum and located 800m from Johor Bahru’s CIQ complex as well as the upcoming Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS).

KFPM was appointed property manager during the developer management period in December 2018. The joint management body (JMB) for the property, which was formed in June 2019, is currently in its third term.

“In addition to having VVIP residents, we also have quite a few international buyers, including Singaporeans, so expectations are on a different level. I’m glad to say that we’ve sustained the standard [of the property] from day one,” says Kuruvilla. “If you walk into The Astaka today, it looks as new as it was day one and that’s down to the team and how they’ve been able to manage it to that level.”

And because property management is not static, KFPM constantly looks to raise the standards, he adds. “We are constantly looking at how we can improve further and how we can enhance the whole community living at the property.”

The Astaka @ One Bukit Senyum is a Gold recipient at The Edge Malaysia Best Managed & Sustainable Property Awards 2024 under the Below 10 Years — Multiple-owned Strata Residential category.

Knight Frank works hard to ensure seamless building operations at The Astaka. “Our main goal is to ensure there are minimum to zero disruptions in terms of essential services such as water supply, electricity and lifts,” says KFPM senior manager Nagashanthini Sukalingam.

“As you know, this is a very tall building, so we really strive not to have any major breakdown of lifts, the fire-fighting system and CCTVs … our main KPI is to ensure all the systems are functioning. And even if there is a breakdown period, we ensure these things are rectified within 24 to 48 hours.”

To achieve its goals, scheduled preventive maintenance plays an important role, says Nagashanthini. “We don’t just depend on the site team to carry out all this because it’s quite a big job, so we are supported by our internal HQ at Knight Frank, who are subject matter experts and specialise in things such as M&E, engineering and safety and security. They will inspect the building annually and help the site team make sure compliance and good practices are in place. The building manager receives an audit report at the end of every year and we evaluate what has been resolved and outstanding.”

Additionally, technology is key to KFPM’s management of The Astaka. “In 2021, we introduced iKFPM, an internally developed system that belongs to Knight Frank, so residents are able to upload their feedback, which automatically generates a work order for the property management team, who are then given a KPI to resolve the issue. We are quite transparent as the reports are shared with the joint management committee every month so they can see the complaints raised and what issues have been resolved or are still pending,” she says, adding that only the owners can close the complaints they had raised.

In fact, the work order system has an escalation process in place. “That’s another thing that we take pride in. Let’s say a deadline given for a particular complaint is three days. If by the third day the issue is not closed, it is then escalated directly to our directors. So we see the involvement of senior management, even if it’s the smallest complaint,” Nagashanthini explains.

KFPM has also implemented a no-cash policy for an efficient collection process. “We implemented that policy when we took over The Astaka, so payments are done online and receipts are generated automatically on the iKFPM system, which also helps reduce extra manpower and assists the joint management committee in keeping the number of staff at an optimum level.”

The Astaka has maintained a healthy collection rate at 87%. Its occupancy rate is at 49%, but it goes up to about 70% on weekends as many of the owners keep their units exclusively as weekend homes, according to KFPM director Nageswaran Muniandy.

One of the initiatives KFPM introduced at The Astaka was the shuttle service. “Being in a key location in Johor Bahru and having many residents, especially from Singapore, who sometimes take the train, bus or Grab from the CIQ, we saw the need for a shuttle service. After discussing it with the joint management committee, they were more than happy for us to incorporate this as an added service, with a third-party vendor,” says Nagashanthini.

Introduced last year, the shuttle service is available four times daily, except on Wednesdays, to key locations such as Komtar JBCC, the CIQ, KSL City Mall and Mid Valley Southkey, including scheduled pick-ups. “This initiative is widely appreciated by the residents and each trip is almost full,” she adds.

To commensurate with the type of property The Astaka is, the vehicles provided for the shuttle service are not your typical van or bus but rather dedicated six-seaters complete with leather seats, says Kuruvilla. “Everything we provide is in line with luxury living standards.”

While the initiative started out as a trial run to gauge the response, KFPM is now looking to expand the services. “Initially, we thought of doing it on a trial basis to see how it works out, but the response was very good, so we are now looking at the second phase, where apart from doing the existing routes, we are planning to offer something like a private charter, where residents can book a vehicle to send them to a location and get picked up by the same one,” he says.

The property manager also has plans to expand its services to include door-to-door pickups from the neighbouring country. “We can arrange to pick up a resident in Singapore, bring him to The Astaka and send him back. But this is work in progress as we need the approval of the transport ministries on both sides.”

Another initiative that KFPM implemented at The Astaka was to open an alternative access route to Jalan Tebrau due to the heavy traffic approaching the immigration office on public holidays and weekends. “We have opened up an alternate route that connects to the basement car park and created a second entrance, which is only open during peak season, so residents won’t get stuck in the heavy traffic,” says Nagashanthini.

Meanwhile, KFPM is looking at making electric vehicle (EV) charging stations available to the residents by year end. “There’s a need for it because owners are actually requesting to install their own. But due to Bomba’s strict guidelines, we’re looking at allocating two of the visitor park bays as common charging stations. We’re going for zero capex because it won’t be fair to residents who do not have an EV, so it’ll be a pay per use system and the profit can be shared between the provider and the JMB,” she says.

Having successfully managed The Astaka without any increase in service charges since vacant possession is another thing KFPM takes pride in. “The property has extensive facilities, so there’s a lot of maintenance to be done. Most residential developments, more often than not, need to increase their service charges after the defect liability period because warranties expire, comprehensive contracts are no longer comprehensive and so on,” says Nagashanthini.

“We were able to maintain the existing service charge because we do a lot of cost optimisation like having in-house technicians carry out the day-to-day maintenance of things such as the automated waste collection system, as well as having transparent tender processes.”

The property manager has also successfully kept the exclusivity of the property by curtailing short-term rentals, says KFPM senior building manager Manimaran Raman. “A lot of the residents here are VIPs, so we made a lot of effort to go through booking platforms to identify units listed as short-term rentals. At the last AGM, we got approval from the owners to ensure that Airbnb and short-term rentals are not allowed at the property, and this was inserted in the additional by-law of The Astaka, with additional approvals to deactivate access cards of the units if they were found to have been misused and impose penalties. At the moment, we are not aware of any short-term rental happening at the property.”

As property management will always have its challenges, having a good team is important, says Kuruvilla. “Property management is not all about the property manager, but the collaboration. For us, it is with the developer and the JMB and eventually the management corporation (MC). We have to be a good working team. So I would say that one of the successes of The Astaka is the great working relationship between Knight Frank, Astaka Padu and now the JMB, and hopefully the MC as well soon.

“It has been a great journey even though it has not always been smooth sailing. But the great thing is we work together to resolve things and The Astaka is where it is today, a well-managed and sustainable property.”

Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.

P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play.