This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on September 23, 2024 - September 29, 2024

It has been over a year since City & Country last visited BRDB Developments Sdn Bhd’s 1,400-acre Bandar Baru Permas Jaya township in Johor. Looking around, it is buzzing with activity and vibrancy.

Established in 1981, the township is being developed by BRDB’s wholly-owned subsidiary Permas Jaya Sdn Bhd. To further elevate it, BRDB group CEO Christopher Manivannan reveals in an exclusive interview with City & Country the developer’s plans to upgrade its products, starting with two upcoming projects. “We are constantly upgrading our offerings in Permas Jaya. We feel that Johoreans and also those working in Singapore will benefit from these upgrades. Every year, when we look at design development, we try to bring a better offering to the consumers.

“We think that the consumers’ expectations are also increasing day by day. So when they increase the expectation, as a developer, we also need to meet or exceed that expectation. We are trying to be two steps ahead of what our consumers want.”

He adds that these new offerings aim to redefine upscale living in Johor by emphasising quality, privacy, sustainability and lifestyle facilities.

The two projects that will be unveiled are The Straits View Garden, comprising landed homes slated to be launched next month, and The Straits View Duo, a serviced apartment development targeted to be launched in 2Q2025.

According to Christopher, The Straits View Garden is the first cluster home development in Permas Jaya. The project offers 198 two-storey cluster homes, semi-detached houses and bungalows spread across an 18.78-acre freehold tract. He adds that these homes sport a modern colonial design concept.

Priced from RM1.4 million, these homes will come in four different layouts, namely Avina (two-storey cluster homes) with a built-up of 2,210 sq ft consisting of four bedrooms and four bathrooms; Blumen (two-storey cluster homes) with a built-up of 2,429 sq ft consisting of four bedrooms and four bathrooms; Calis (two-storey semidees) with a built-up of 3,466 sq ft consisting of five bedrooms and six bathrooms; and Danae (two-storey bungalows) with a built-up of 3,715 sq ft consisting of five bedrooms and six bathrooms.

Within the development, residents can access a clubhouse offering several recreational and leisure facilities including a function room, surau, gym, barbecue pit, children’s playground, swimming pool, wading pool, changing room, landscaped garden and visitor’s carpark.

The development has been awarded a GreenRE Bronze Provisional Certification as it boasts several green features. BRDB chief operating officer Simon Siva elaborates, “For this project, we decided that green features were essential to bring down energy usage and costs at the same time.

“The green features we have to reduce the maintenance charges are solar panels to provide electricity to the clubhouse. On top of that, we have rainwater harvesting systems where we can use that water to irrigate all the landscaping and common areas. For the units themselves, we provide solar water heaters for all bathrooms. We have also designed the units so more natural lighting and ventilation can come in by providing larger than usual windows and sliding doors.”

Christopher says most landed homes at Permas Jaya do not have these additional conveniences that are much preferred by today’s homebuyers. This is why the developer decided to provide them for The Straits View Garden.

“In landed properties, especially if we see individual properties, these are not provided. So we are trying to bring condo amenities to landed houses. Therefore, big and multi-generational families can enjoy an environment that is friendly and safe.”

As for the target market, Simon says the project will cater to “upgraders, especially those seeking bigger and exclusive living spaces who desire privacy, a high-end lifestyle, premium amenities, functional design and an established neighbourhood. I think locals working in Singapore or Singaporeans. People who often travel between the two countries, looking for a quality lifestyle and convenient commute, would also find these homes ideal.

“Besides that, we’ve seen a trend where existing residents of Permas Jaya have invested in their second or third property here. So these homes will appeal to the second or third generation of the residents who have resided over 40 years in Permas Jaya. They still prefer to stay closer to their family and within the same township that they are familiar with. This project would also suit investors looking to capitalise on the growing property market value around the area.”

On the demand for these properties, Christopher says, “Not many developers do this kind of development and the demand for our landed homes here is enormous. Especially now, we are changing these landed homes from individual titles to strata-titled homes. There will be more demand because people like to live in an environment where they feel safe and secure. They don’t mind paying a little bit more for the facilities. So we believe demand will be there for us.”

As for The Straits View Duo, it will be BRDB’s first foray into serviced apartments in Permas Jaya. Spread across a 3.37-acre freehold and commercial-titled tract, this serviced apartment development will comprise two 34-storey towers housing 715 residential units with built-ups from 645 to 1,293 sq ft. As for the commercial component, the project will offer 15 units of retail lots. Further details of the project are forthcoming.

Elaborating on the project’s design concept, Simon says, “The name ‘The Straits View Duo’ continues the series of ‘The Straits View’ for our residential projects. ‘Duo’ effectively represents the development, which features two blocks and provides a clear and immediate understanding of the project’s structure. The name was also aligned with Straits architecture, borrowing the old colonial style found in Singapore and Malaysia.

“To create the grandeur of the Straits architecture style, the entire lobby on the ground floor will be designed as a double volume space that is 7.5m high. This creates statement entrances for each residential tower and comes with its own private drop-off driveway complete with water features,” he adds.

Some planned facilities include an infinity pool, wading pool, Jacuzzi, bedding pool, barbecue area, outdoor gym, nursery, co-working space, kid’s playground, gazebo, landscaped garden, sauna, lounge, gymnasium, games room, indoor golf area, children’s adventure zone, jogging path, resting pod, multipurpose hall, badminton court and viewing deck.

For The Straits View Duo, Christopher reveals that the developer is also looking to get it GreenRE certified. Its sustainable features will include passive design to reduce solar gain into the building, use of natural ventilation where possible, low-energy LED lights and appliances, rainwater harvesting system, high percentage of landscaped areas, bicycle parking and use of low VOC materials.

The target markets for this project, Christopher says, are first-time homebuyers and young working adults or professionals, young families, newlyweds who are looking to grow their family, empty nesters, upgraders, and also investors.

Regarding the demand for high-rise residential projects in Permas Jaya or Johor Bahru, Christopher said in an interview with City & Country last year, “The overhang in Johor has been largely contributed by serviced apartments because they come in high-rise blocks, which are massive and very high density. We know there is a struggle in selling such units, so we’re not going to work on serviced apartments for the time being.”

Since then, the market has slowly improved, and as a result, the developer decided to introduce a serviced apartment product. “In the last five to six years, we have been doing a lot of landlocked properties. We tested one mid-rise apartment comprising 100 units, which is called Bayu Permas. We launched in December last year; now it’s only been about nine months but we have sold 84%. So we thought the demand was there.

“We also noticed that there are a few things that are coming in; the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS Link) is going to be completed in another couple of years. There is also the Johor-Singapore Special Financial Zone and Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone. So there are a lot of activities that are being planned and we also know that Permas Jaya is near the Johor-Singapore Causeway. Therefore, there will be demand for service apartments, provided that the project’s offerings exceed purchasers’ expectations and that the location should be near these upcoming infrastructure and special zones.”

Christopher says apart from these two developments, the developer is working on a few other projects in Permas Jaya. They include redeveloping an existing AEON mall and working on several new residential and commercial developments.

Over at the 111-acre Emerald Bay in Puteri Harbour, the developer plans to launch another phase of bungalows following the recent traction for some completed homes there. Emerald Bay is a 60:40 joint venture between BRDB and UEM Sunrise Bhd (KL:UEMS), offering high-end resort-style courtyard homes, semi-detached villas and bungalows by a waterfront.

On his market outlook on Johor in the coming few months, Christopher elaborates, “I think whatever good announcements, it augurs well for the Johor state. For us as a city developer, the overflow of announcements and activities that have been taking place the last first half of the year augurs well for us because of the spillover effect and the beneficiary of all these would be the city developers.

“We think that what is going to help is the RTS Link and the infrastructure that is going to come out of this. Because when the state has an inflow of capital investment, it will have money to develop infrastructure. So a few years down the road, Johor Bahru will be a more modern and vibrant city.”

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