Penangites are discerning property investors, in the opinion of the developer of the first residential hotel concept on the island.
MPSB Holdings Sdn Bhd director Terrence Lim, whose company is building Mansion One in Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, said 70% of Mansion One buyers were Penang property investors.
“Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah is among the costliest street addresses on the island,” said Lim.
“But we designed our smallest units so that they are only RM400,000.
“Mansion One is just 15 minutes’ walk to Gurney Drive and a few minutes’ drive to inner George Town.
“Our residence hotel concept is unique in Penang.
“Imagine living in a condo with all the services of a luxury hotel like room service and housekeeping,” Lim said.
He said that with these attributes, 75% of Mansion One was booked within six months of launching.
“We are very impressed that most of our buyers are locals,” said Lim who is from Kuala Lumpur and has lived in Penang for seven years.
Mansion One is built on the former Northam Tower site.
As an office block, it had only 30% occupancy when MPSB acquired it.
“The location is wondrous but the product concept was not.
“We decided to bring in the residence hotel concept which is popular in Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.”
The development contains 200 hotel rooms, and Lim said there are plans to turn it into a four-star hotel.
There will be 330 residential suites in designs of one, two and three bedrooms.
They will measure between 580sq ft and 1,300sq ft.
Mansion One is targeted to be ready by the second quarter of 2014 and about 20% of the units are still available.
Lim said MPSB had also begun building D’Mansion in Bukit Dumbar.
Targeted for completion in 2016, this is a low-density condominium with 20 storeys and only 50 units.
Lim said the average price of D’Mansion was about RM600 per sq ft.
Both Mansion One and D’Mansion will be under the limelight at The Star Property Fair.
The fair is organised by The Star for the 11th year.
It is open from 10am to 10pm daily from tomorrow until Sunday at Gurney Plaza and G Hotel.
Admission is free. - By The Star
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