Monday, April 12, 2010

A Glimpse of UMLand-MMC's Suasana Ceylon

This project located in Bukit Ceylon is a UMLand and MMC joint venture development. There has been some controversy earlier with landslides occuring at the site, apparently killing a construction worker. However, UMLand has denied this citing a misunderstanding with an incident elsewhere. Apparently, the reporter had taken a picture of the site which is now covered with plastic sheets and hence the perception has stuck. However, the clearing of a big chunk of Bukit Ceylon for this project has caused a bungalow on top of the hill to lose part of its garden and wall.
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Anyway, the project has been halted for close to a year now pending approval from the authorities. UMLand is hoping that people will have short memories and the project will continue. Hopefully so, not for my lack of environmental concerns but the site really looks horrible now and as long as no piling is done to stabilize the earth, the whole Bukit Ceylon may come tumbling down one day.


This project will apparently consist of one bedroom, 2 bedroom and 3 bedroom units priced from RM450k onwards. The attraction are the units which faces the swimming pool, overlooking Bukit Ceylon and hence will have an unobstructed commanding view of KLCC and KL Tower. It will be breath-taking.



With this project, the recent Bolton announcement for SixCeylon and the WingTai Asia's Verticas project which is on-going, there will be an addition of almost 1600 new units into the Bukit Ceylon/Bukit Bintang area. I think Suasana Ceylon will directly compete with SixCeylon as both offers small studio/1 bedroom units. With the current sluggish markets affecting high-end studio/1 bedroom units in One residency and Seri Bukit Ceylon, I think we are looking at a big challenge ahead to sustain the market. I would call for UMLand and Bolton to reconsider and instead go for the middle sector, i.e. make their units smaller and price them below RM350k so that a rental of RM2000 will be feasible. There is a huge shortage in this sector.

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