This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on August 5, 2024 - August 11, 2024

Tropicana Corp Bhd (KL:TROP) is gearing up for a busy few years in Johor. On a media trip in June, the developer revealed that it would be promoting two master-planned developments: one each in Johor Bahru and Gelang Patah. According to CEO Ong Chou Wen, this is on the back of growing demand for property in the southern state.

“From 2024, at least for the next five years, Johor’s property market will be on the uptrend. In Malaysia, the property hotspots we normally talk about are Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Johor. We foresee the rise in the Johor property market will overtake that of KL and Penang in the next five years.

“Since January, we have started to see how this change will take place in Johor. We have been monitoring the property market conditions there for the past year, and almost every month, there has been an increase in property sales and take-up, including land transactions,” he added, noting that other recently launched developments in the state achieved high take-up rates of between 80% and 100%.

Ong cited the establishment of the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone and Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link as among the factors that have turned the southernmost state in Peninsular Malaysia into a property magnet. 

Moreover, the demand index for Johor properties has climbed to 17%, in line with the National Property Information Centre’s Property Market Report in 2023, which reported a 20% decrease in Johor’s unsold properties from 5,258 units in 2022 to 4,228 in 2023.

“Coupled with the rental price hike in Singapore, it is the right time for Tropicana to roll out its strategic townships to spur its growth plan in the booming Johor market,” Ong said.

To capitalise on this demand, Tropicana is pushing to the forefront two master-

planned developments — the 163-acre Lido Waterfront Boulevard in Johor Bahru and the 314-acre Tropicana Uplands in Gelang Patah.

Lido Waterfront Boulevard is a RM34 billion integrated development situated on reclaimed land along the waterfront bordering Singapore. It will have components such as healthcare, medical tourism, hospitality, recreational and lifestyle offerings. The land tenure is freehold and products will have individual title. The land has been divided into 19 plots and the development timeline for completion of the entire project is 10 to 15 years.

What makes this project and its products special is the location of the development in an international zone, which allows 95% foreign ownership compared to the normal 50%. Moreover, there is a low foreigner purchase threshold under which foreigners can purchase a house from RM400,000 instead of the minimum requirement of RM1 million. With the project only 1.5km from the Causeway and the RTS station, Tropicana believes location is its bestselling point and it will be looking to reinforce this factor with its first product launch.

Said Ong, “Our maiden project in the master-planned development of Lido Waterfront Boulevard is The Watermark. It will have 1,596 units across two towers, each consisting of 798 units. We will be launching our first tower, the first phase, in September.”

The serviced residence will be built on 3.97 acres and has a gross development value (GDV) of RM1.3 billion. It will be the central hub of activity from work to leisure. The units feature three types of built-ups in varying sizes: Type A (268 units, 463 sq ft); Type B (1,214 units, 667 sq ft) and Type C (114 units, 807 sq ft). Tropicana hopes to attract locals, Singaporeans and Malaysians working in Singapore.

The other large-scale project in Tropicana’s portfolio is a 25-minute drive to the west of Johor Bahru, a master-planned development called Tropicana Uplands. This township will be home to residential and commercial components. It will also feature a central community park as well as educational and recreational amenities that promote a green and sustainable lifestyle.

Aster Heights, the township’s first project launched in 2021, featured 193 two-storey terraced houses with built-ups of 1,446 to 1,484 sq ft. Priced from RM489,000, all were taken up within five months.

The developer hopes to build on this encouraging performance with the launch of Fraser Heights, the next project in the township.

“Fraser Heights has 518 two- and three-storey premium linked houses with a GDV of RM387 million. We foresee a good take-up as the registration of interest has exceeded the number of units,” said Ong.

The launch of the houses is slated for the second half of this year.

Freehold with individual title, Fraser Heights will take up 35.26 acres. The development is also sited in the international zone, within the Iskandar Malaysia Flagship Zone B. It is surrounded by ready amenities such as GP Sentral Bus Terminal, Aeon Mall Bukit Indah, Mydin Mall as well as local and international schools.

There are three layouts to choose from: Types A and B are two-storey linked houses (measuring 18ft by 65ft and 18ft by 70ft respectively) while Type C is a three-storey linked home measuring 18ft by 70ft. Prices start from RM700,000.

One unique aspect of Fraser Heights is the low density, with 14 units per acre, and 19 acres of green space. It will also have connectivity via the Skudai-Pontian Highway and the second link to Singapore.

With Johor being a hotbed of property development and the state expected to see greater growth, how does Tropicana hope to differentiate itself from its competitors?

Ong felt that providing convenience is key and that is by providing artificial intelligence-oriented homes.

“We have our own DNA. We believe in people, the planet and partnerships. For the people aspect, whatever we do, we have to meet the needs of the people so that our products will remain sought after.

“As for the planet, we talk about ESG (environmental, social and governance). Recently, we signed an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with Samsung. There will be more brands in the future, but we want to create AI-oriented homes to facilitate a convenient lifestyle. This is one way to differentiate ourselves in the market.”

Ong explained that for The Watermark, Tropicana is exploring the idea of infusing AI into the products there. To do so, it needs strong partnerships to create innovative homes for buyers.

“We think AI homes are one way in which we can provide that convenience, to command a premium price and stand out from the rest,” Ong said.

As the interview drew to a close, he shared that Tropicana will also be dabbling in the industrial sector in Johor. The project is called T Industrial Park (TIP) in Gelang Patah, where it will be

 a facilitator to sell industrial plots as it is not the landowner.

TIP is a 1,188-acre industrial park with an estimated GDV of RM2.36 billion. It will have a total of eight phases. TIP focuses on light and medium industries such as manufacturing, warehousing of electrical and engineering products, hardware, construction, medical, pharmaceutical, logistics, hi-tech industries, biotechnology and data centres.

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