E&O Property sets new standards in high-rise living

E&O Property sets new standards in high-rise living

By THEAN LEE CHENG

leecheng@thestar.com.my

AS the world evolves, the way people live will also change. The city of Kuala Lumpur is no different.

There was a time when a new condominium block was fairly similar to another developed five years ago. With Dua Residency, a project by E&O Property Development Bhd, it will be different. The company is setting new standards in high-rise living.

During a visit to the 20-storey project located along Jalan Tun Razak, next to the Singapore High Commission, marketing and sales director K.C. Chong says there will be a deep and broad emphasis on services and facilities.

“We will be raising the bar,” Chong says of the KLCC project.

With the completion of more than a dozen condominium projects in that locality the next couple of years, access and location will no longer be the differentiating factor because they are all around the same tuft.

With space, size and technology being points of differences and developer’s reputation a major consideration, E&O Property Development will take Dua a step further. It is entering the KLCC scene with another word beginning with ‘S’. The word today is “service”. In the process, it will be harnessing its reputation on two fronts – property development and management.

Drawing from its heritage and experience (the group owns Penang’s E&O Hotel), it has ingeniously put itself in a position to provide a tapestry of services. The five-acre project was sold as condominiums in 2004. Unlike service-apartments which come with commercial and retail facilities, a condominium project does not. However, in the case of Dua, within the grounds is a separate three-storey retail and restaurant annexe block which the company has retained and named The Annexe.

Chong says the 25,000 sq ft boutique block can accommodate three to four food and beverage outlets.

By not selling what used to be its formal marketing site, E & O Property Development will effectively be tapping into its long-term capital appreciation and, at the same time, deriving rental yield from it.

It will also be able to strengthen its property management portfolio – Chong has been given that department – to nurture the E&O brand as it has custodian of it.

The company has been steadily carving out the brand the last several years with its launch of super high-end series of landed strata units in Damansara Heights area, another premium location.

With its emphasis on service and property management, negotiations are ongoing for the food outlets to provide catering services for private dinner parties in the unit or in the public entertainment area around the pool and gardens. Kitchen facilities have also been provided for large-scale entertaining in the public area.

Says Chong: “We put ourselves in the residents' shoes. We ask ourselves ... what else can we do to make living here a pleasurable experience?”

With 288 units on five acres, Dua will have among the lowest density in that area. It has set aside one acre for landscaped pools, gardens and recreation areas. There is much depth and breadth to its open and public areas. The concourse is 250 ft long and 40 ft broad. Each of the two blocks will have reception areas and some units will have their own private lifts.

There have been comments that the two blocks do not look distinguished from afar. It is a whole new experience altogether inside, largely due to the spaciousness of its public areas and the landscaped open area.

The driveway comes in cobblestones with drop-off points for both blocks. There will also be a concierge area, “something not promised but which we are providing nevertheless because we want to enhance the experience of living here.”

E & O Property Development has also doubled the meetings rooms to four.

Elegance from living area to the study
“There will be residents working from home and they may have visitors whom they can meet on the ground floor,” says Chong.

There will also be a reading room of 1,000 sq ft which Chong and team are planning to turn into a library.

“Let me think carefully about the books and shelves,” he says as he went around the place, checking lighting points and the intercom system.

With keys to be handed to buyers in the next several weeks, he has been examining the units, adding extra light points where he deemed necessary.

“We constantly ask ourselves: What else can we provide?”

He will be providing extra storage space on the 15th floor where residents can keep their belongings that they do not normally need, like skis or the extra golf bags and clubs. That is also something not promised but an added extra for the benefit of residents. Another is household help.

“Its goes back to the word service,” says Chong.

When Dua was first launched in 2004, the 288 units were sold at around RM600 per sq ft, with the lower floors starting out at RM550 per sq ft. It is transacting in the secondary market for about RM800 per sq ft.

“The quality is reflected in the price and we are sure the price will go up even further. The tempo for this type of high-end condominium is strong. The smallest unit (2,000 sq ft) was over RM1.2mil during the launch, says Chong.”

Chong adds that when a developer puts a price to a development he should also give something back to the buyer. “It will come back to you, and the reputation of the developer is enhanced many times over.”

Dua is among the first to be unveiled after a lull in the property market after the 1997/98 financial crisis in what is currently known as the country’s most upmarket and much sought-after location on an international property circuit.

The first high-rise development in that area was Ascott and Kirana in Jalan Pinang in the l990s. Marc Residence, which is along the same stretch, came along at around the same time as Dua Residence was unveiled. Others later joined in the fray.

About 30% of its buyers are foreigners.