Launching soon - The Establishment at Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur

A little known developer is going to launch the Establishment any time soon. This is a 46-storey building with over 600 units of apartments and you guessed it, they are mostly going to be those tiny studios. Since there are no clues to their sales office or showroom, I managed to pinch some pictures from the architech's website.

 

It is quite a nice design. Kudos to the young team of architects. The design is very much similar to the PJ Trade Center at Damansara Perdana designed by another local Malaysian talent, Seksan.  Seksan is a genius, he is my idol. He puts together inexpensive, common and natural building materials with nature into a very clever design. There is no need for luxurious marble and grand columns which tend to decay in their looks over time. So I am rather pleased the team at architeknic has taken on this cue.

 

 

Design apart, the location is somewhat superb although the access might be a question mark. The site is located beside the Bangsar LRT station. However, it has no direct access to Jalan Bangsar which runs alongside the LRT track as it is separated by the KTM railway tracks. Instead, I suspect the access will be via Brickfields which is congested and may wind through the rows of old flats and apartment blocks. So, it is extremely convenient if you don't drive as there is going to be a bridge connecting the building to the LRT station. But if you drive, it is not so good...

 

Another kink is, the land is currently occupied by a Muslim graveyard. There will be some level of exhumation involved before construction can start. For the faint hearted, this might be an issue... although it has become quite common in many land hungry cities.  One such example is the Ritz-Carlton Residences by Mahanakhon project at the busy Sathorn-Narathiwat Ratchanakarin junction in Bangkok. This site adjacent to the Chong Nonsi BTS station used to be a Chinese graveyard. Today, it is one of the most expensive piece of real estate in Thailand at over RM3,000psf.

 

 

 

But for me, the 4 high principles of property - no high tension wires, no sewer, no highways and no graveyards. So, still no graveyards for me please....