Old Bangsar

People always relate Bangsar to affluence. But not every part of Bangsar is rich, however more and more of it is. Property prices here now can match KLCC area as seen from the launches recently of Nadi Bangsar and the Establishment. 

Bangsar consists of Bukit Bandaraya and Taman Bandaraya on a hill towards the north - this is the affluent part of Bangsar with many old Bungalows, the Verona Towns houses and many condominiums are located here. The recently refurbished Bangsar shopping complex is here too.  This is a very popular neighbourhood mall. With the addition of an office block by developer BRDB, it has become even more. A friend who used to run a shop here once commented that you may not see many people in the mall but the shops do well because people who come here, they come to spend money and they already know what they want to buy. This is unlike some malls where we see crowds but everyone is just window shopping...

Mid-Bangsar consists of the commercial Telawi area and the mostly terraced residential Terasek. This is the most high density part of Bangsar although there are no apartments or condos here. This is due to the eateries and  pubs in Telawi coupled by the Bangsar Village mall and TMC supermarket, with haphazard parking and cars blocking the roads and driveways of houses almost 24 hours. Personally I hate this place for the congestion but it seems to attract the trendy and the new.   

The link to the public transport in Bangsar is the Bangsar LRT station located in the less affluent Bukit Bangsar. Here we have low cost flats and C-grade commercial buildings. The flagship of the area is Dataran Maybank and UOA's Menara UOA Bangsar office which adjoins the LRT station. 

In all the areas mentioned above, one would struggle to find any piece of land where meaningful development can be carried out. However, at the southern tip, almost cut off from the rest of the Bangsar is the unnamed area which is so unceremoniously called "Off Jalan Bangsar" in googlemap.  Old geezers like us relate this place to the News Straits Times Press of Jalan Riong. But with the mainstream media such as NST having less prominence in our lives... due to often spouting much spin and shit from the ruling party, many in the younger generation don't know much about Jalan Riong  anymore. From inside the LRT and Jalan Bangsar, one can see vast tracks of land ripe for development.

In fact the Nadi Bangsar project has just started in this area. What's going to happen next is indeed very exciting... Notice the grey warehouse beside the orange NST Press in the picture below? This is earmarked to become a hub for arts and print. It will be turned into a trendy and artsy place for creative people to perform and create.

Indeed, unknown to fast paced business KL, there is a corner of town that is indeed still very slow, still very retro in fact...

Far deep into "Off Jalan Bangsar", past the towering condos such as Bangsar Permai, Bangsar Heights, Suasana and upcoming Nadi Bangsar is a residential community stuck in the 60's.

There really isn't a single name for the area, as every street is named after a different fish such as Kaloi, Sepat, Kurau etc... This is unlike other parts of Bangsar which have a single identifiable name with a street number like Telawi 1, Terasek 6 and so on... Despite that, the streets of the fishes have their own community hall, complete with a "town square" and a BBQ pit!  

I particularly love the terraced houses which are still untouched, unrenovated, maintaining it's old charm and facade... such as those below...

Unfortunately, many of these have been renovated and changed, some of them very successfully but most of them totally look bad taste!

The price tag of these 20ft wide houses are now well over RM1million. If these seem distantly affordable, consider the charming Bangsar Heights condo. It's a struggle to find any sellers here. Although prices are merely RM700psf today, old condos tend to be large, even for 1br or 2br units making them cost well over RM1million for a typical 3 bedroom unit. The cheapest I found was a RM700k 800sf 2br unit. With just over 100 units over 7 acres of freehold land, this is a gem!