This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on August 19, 2024 - August 25, 2024

Sime Darby Property Bhd’s (KL:SIMEPROP) City of Elmina development in Shah Alam has come a long way since its inception in 2000 with the 250-acre Bukit Subang township. The freehold mega township, which has a projected gross development value (GDV) of RM30 billion, spans 6,500 acres and comprises five townships today.

In addition to Bukit Subang, there are Elmina East (1,088 acres), Elmina West (2,662 acres), Denai Alam (1,000 acres) and, the latest, Elmina Business Park (1,500 acres).

Together, they form a self-contained deve­lopment that is well connected by the Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE), as well as the Kuala Lumpur-Kuala Selangor (LATAR) Expressway, the Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated (DASH) Expressway and the New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE).

According to Sime Darby Property chief operating officer — township development Appollo Leong, the opening of the DASH highway in 2022 has further improved connectivity and attracted more homebuyers and investors to City of Elmina.

The township has a population of 67,000 and the number is expected to grow to about 150,000 upon completion.

Leong says now is the right time to launch the 480-acre Elmina City Centre, which will serve as the commercial heartbeat of the township as well as the wider Guthrie Corridor region. “The Elmina City Centre development is important because as the township matures, the population grows. So, it’s time for us to activate the city centre. This is going to cater for the local community and those in the surrounding neighbourhoods.”

In addition, he sees Google’s US$2 billion (RM9.7 billion) investment to set up its first hyperscale data centre in Malaysia at the Elmina Business Park as an opportunity to expedite the city centre development. “With the data centre coming in, there will be a lot more people coming into the township for work and this will create a spillover economic effect for the city centre and the surrounding areas.”

He notes that both the Elmina Business Park and the upcoming Elmina City Centre are set to generate 250,000 new jobs for the township.

Meanwhile, City of Elmina is currently 71% developed and is estimated to be fully completed by 2040, with 36,600 homes in total (excluding high-rise units), 550 acres of commercial and 1,900 acres of light to light-medium industrial units.

As for the high-rise component, Leong says while there are 18 phases of serviced apartments and condominiums planned in the city centre, it is not set in stone. “As a township developer, we have to always respond to the market. So, if the market becomes too saturated with serviced apartments, we can build more offices or commercial properties, for example.”

The Elmina City Centre project, which will have a GDV of RM6 billion, is scheduled to be developed over a 15-year period and will comprise a 350-acre city centre component (GDV: RM5 billion) on the Elmina West side of the GCE and a 130-acre city square component (GDV: RM1 billion) on the Elmina East side of the same highway. The master plan also encompasses a 300-acre central park and a 5km urban biodiversity corridor that connects the green spaces within the city by linking the east and west precincts of the township.

“Best of all, City of Elmina sits next to the 2,700-acre Bukit Cherakah Forest Reserve, which plays a pivotal role in the master planning and development of the township,” Leong says.

The 350-acre city centre component adopts the 15-minute city urban planning concept, whereby the city’s main components are designed to be within 15 minutes’ walking or cycling distance. The component comprises clusters for education (Elmina Edu Hub), serviced apartments (Residential Park), wellness and hospitality (Elmina Wellness Hub), CBD, integrated commercial (The Core), lifestyle retail-tainment (Elmina Lakeside Mall) and future transit-oriented development (Placemaking Village).

The 130-acre city square component comprises multiple commercial plots. Two plots of 2- and 3-storey shopoffices (Temu 1 and Temu 2) have already been launched this year. Temu 1 (70 units) is completed and fully occupied and Temu 2 (48 units) is slated to be completed by 2026. Other commercial plots in the area are earmarked for future commercial or serviced residential development.

The Elmina City Centre is also integrated with the 300-acre Central Park, which comprises six thematic parks: the Forest Park (84 acres), Arts and Cultural Park (37 acres), Urban Park (35 acres), Community Park (35 acres), Wildlife Park (25 acres) and Sports Park (83 acres).

“Owing to the size of the park, we are putting in six different parks. For example, the Urban Park, which is connected to the mall, has a different design from the Forest Park, which is adjacent to the forest reserve,” Leong says. “The Community Park has been designed for jogging, relaxation and an urban farm; and the Sports Park [located in the city square component] will have things such as a community velodrome, sporting fields and multi-sports court.”

According to him, a unique feature of the Elmina City Centre is its location next to the forest reserve and parks. “Typically, we see developers tend to maximise their land use by putting all the high-rise and commercial developments next to the highway or main road. At City of Elmina, the first thing you will see when you come into the development is the Central Park.”

The central park and adjacent river are also designed as a floodplain to mitigate flooding during heavy rainfall. “By law, we need to design a township that can accommodate a Q100, or a once-in-a-100-year flood, event. The very bad flood in Selangor in 2021 is an example of a Q100. Here, we have built a park that can accommodate up to a Q1000.

“We have also widened the river to 20m to 30m, from two to three metres originally, so we can create more biodiversity, wetlands and plant trees that we have germinated at the Elmina Rainforest Knowledge Centre along the river to develop a habitat for birds,” he adds.

As the central park is a key feature of the deve­lop­ment, Sime Darby Property plans to lease back the 300-acre park from the state authorities to ensure it is well maintained. “This is a pilot project and the first in the country. Developers typically will want to surrender the park because it will cost money to maintain. We want to lease the park back for the next 21 years with one condition: to allow us to put in some commercial activities with the intention to collect rent that goes towards the maintenance of the park,” says Leong.

He explains that the revenue collected would go to a special company that would be set up for this leaseback arrangement. “When the company has enough revenue and income generated from the leases and park activation, the company then goes back to the local authority. This is so the local authorities will already have the resources in the company to manage the park. This is how we plan to manage the park.”

Meanwhile, the Elmina Lakeside Mall, which is connected to the Urban Park, will be the first commercial development to be activated in the city centre. It will feature an al fresco neighbourhood mall concept and offer 113 shopping and dining outlets across 214,000 sq ft of net lettable space. Both the mall and park are slated to open on Aug 22.

Ahead of the mall’s opening, Leong says, the developer is already looking into expanding it. “We are talking about expansion plans because the mall is already 95% occupied, and we have not opened yet.”

In the city centre’s education hub, Chinese school SJK (C) Regent Elmina is slated to open in 2026, says Leong. “The education hub will offer education options ranging from primary and secondary public schools and a Chinese independent school to international schools and a college. As a city developer, we want to offer a full range of education options that cater for all segments of the community,” says Leong. “We have also donated about 10 acres to an independent high school and are in talks with several international schools, which we hope to announce soon.”

Sime Darby Property plans to build a hospital in the wellness hub and is in talks with a hospital operator.

The developer will also be kicking off a series of placemaking activities and areas in the city centre this year, such as a football and sports arena, an urban farm-to-table dining concept as well as other family-centric activities such as paddle boating and bicycle rentals, which will be made available at the Urban Park.

In the medium to longer term, more space activation plans have been drawn up, including camping grounds and river bathing zones at the Forest Park as well as the community velodrome and pump tracks at the Sports Park.

Meanwhile, Sime Darby Property is gearing up to launch the first residential component at Elmina City Centre — Kanopi Residences — in 4Q2024. “By the time Kanopi is completed, most of these amenities will be up and running,” Leong says.

The Kanopi Residences serviced apartment development will have a GDV of RM299 million and offer 499 units, including 50 Servis Apartmen Mampu Milik (SAMM) units, as well as 13 retail lots on a 3.58-acre freehold land parcel.

The open-market units will come in two open-plan layout types — the 1,000 sq ft Type A, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and two parking bays; and the 1,200 sq ft Type A1, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and three parking bays. The apartments are priced from RM590,888 and the monthly maintenance fee is 35 sen psf, inclusive of the sinking fund.

The SAMM units (Type B) are 550 sq ft, with one bedroom, one bathroom and two parking bays, and priced at RM270,000.

Kanopi Residences’ main feature is its strategic location. Because it adopts the 15-minute city concept, residents can walk to amenities such as the central park, the lakeside mall, the placemaking village for activities, schools, the future transit hub and the forest reserve. “Typically, premium plots are the last to be developed in order for developers to charge maximum prices, but we do it the other way around. Kanopi’s location is premium and we are starting with it,” Leong says.

“We are also pricing [the open-market units] at about half the price of our linkhouses to leave something on the table for those who want to invest in our property.”

He says it is the right time to roll out high-rise developments in the township. “Our latest launch of linkhouses are priced at almost RM1.2 million. So, we need to provide products that are half that price, as we want to cater to a full spectrum of the community.”

Leong is referring to the latest launch of 24ft by 70ft superlink homes with a built-up area of 2,292 sq ft at Elmina Ridge 1, which are priced at RM1.16 million, or RM508 psf, compared with the first launch of Elmina East in 2013, namely the Ariza 20ft by 88ft linkhomes with a built-up area of 1,953 sq ft and priced at RM599,888, or RM307 psf.

Kanopi Residences is ideal for first-time buyers, newlyweds and young families, says Leong. The project offers more than 35 facilities designed for young families with children, including open lawns, a children’s playground and wading pool, swimming pool, multi-purpose court, indoor and outdoor gyms, a herb garden as well as a co-working space and lounge.

In line with the new norm and sustainable living standards, the development will also come with three-tier security, parcel delivery drop-off, balconies, flexible spaces for a home office, electric vehicle charging stations, a rainwater harvesting system, collection area for recyclables and a food scrap composting area.

Leong believes Kanopi Residences and Elmina City Centre will do well because of their unique positioning. “Unlike Kanopi Residences, high-rise developments in KL are generally very high-density, with no accessibility to parks and green spaces. At Elmina City Centre, residents have access to 300 acres of park any time and they are only 15 minutes’ walking distance from amenities, and 15 minutes’ driving distance from Kota Damansara and 20 minutes from KL. It’s very convenient. This is why [our offerings in City of Elmina] have been selling well.”

In terms of outlook, he is sanguine about the country’s property market despite global inflation and geopolitical issues. “From a global economy perspective, things are not so rosy, as inflation is still a problem and the geopolitical tension doesn’t help. But, in Malaysia, we can see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Although we are also faced with a bit of an inflation issue, things have started to change. We see a lot more property launches and the overhang is a bit better. People are buying again.”

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