“In view of the slowing economy, we reposition our development to suit the market demands,” Lim told StarBiz. “We (downsized) the development because we anticipated that the retail mall business would be tough going forward.”

Lim said the decision would also “lighten up” the company’s cash position, adding that the project’s profit margin could be maintained at 25% to 30% of sales value.

“Magna Prima is able to retain a healthy profit margin because we may not keep any of the assets in the amended RM600mil (project),” he said, revealing that the company had planned to retain 45% to 55% of the original project.

As of end of October, the group had RM230mil in unbilled sales.

The Magna City will have over 1.6mil square feet of net floor area while the construction is targeted to commence in the middle of 2009.

It sits on 10.23 acres of freehold land comprising 67 units of lifestyle shop offices, two levels of retail lots, two levels of corporate offices and 800 units of service apartments.

Magna City project to be downsized

However, as the economy faces tough challenges in view of the current global financial crisis, the local property market has also experienced a general slowdown. The consensus among property developers is that times would be “bad” next year, although few would admit it openly.

Some developers who joined the office market craze in Petaling Jaya in the past few years may be lucky as they have managed to complete their projects and sold or tenanted out most of their office and retail spaces.

These are the new generation strata office developments where some of them have retail components. They are mainly found along the Federal Highway (mostly purpose-built integrated offices like PJ City, PJ8) and in Section 13, 14 and 19 like Jaya 33, Jaya One, The Quill 9 and 3 Two Square.

Affluent townships like Bandar Utama and Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) are also seeing several new office projects (Menara Surian next to Ikano Power Centre and three in Bandar Utama City Centre viz Plaza IBM, KPMG Tower and 1, First Avenue. With Bandar Utama being awarded the MSC Cybercentre status in October, it would enhance the value of properties there).

Ken Group is also planning to build an office block in TTDI.

Coming up in the Kampung Kayu Area is 10 Boulevard and nearby, just after the Damansara toll plaza is the new Merchant Square.

There are many more being planned or under construction.

Those that have just been launched or just completed may face an uncertain future. This may be partly due to a softening market that is expected to get worse next year.

Although oil prices have dipped recently, there are still fears that it might jump next year, causing another round of fears and uncertainty. The global financial “tsunami” may hit our shores hard next year.

Meanwhile, a rough poll shows that generally the office market in Petaling Jaya, especially for the new developments, are holding up fairly well.

Businesses today want to be seen as progressive and not holed up in some old shop houses. They do not mind paying a premium to own or rent offices that are well located and have lots of amenities.

S K Brothers Realty Sdn Bhd general manager Chan Ai Cheng points out that employees are also choosy in not only who they are working for, but also where they work, as in location.

“An interesting thing while marketing 3 Two Square is that we noticed that businesses were moving out of the older shop offices and shop houses to new developments as their former image had made it difficult for them to hire staff, much less retain them. Young graduates today are looking at working in fine offices, and places with a nice address plus extra perks. It reflects the changing times,” she says, adding that many companies who had their roots in Petaling Jaya were also reluctant to relocate elsewhere.

SK Brothers, she says, is one such company that had bought office space in 3 Two Square which is very near its former office in Paramount Garden that it had been operating since 1979.

“When we bought our office space in 3 Two Square, prices were around RM260 psf to RM280 psf but it has since gone up. We transacted a unit at 3 Two Square early this year for RM315 psf. Recently, we transacted another office space just above our unit at RM380 psf. Office rental rates there are in the region of RM2.30 to RM2.70 psf,” says the daughter of SK Brothers founder Charlie Chan.

Chan says she has a friend who bought a unit at 3 Two Square a few months before completion and managed to almost immediately rent out her unit to a pharmaceutical company; for a year now, she has been enjoying rental returns of close to 10% per annum.

Chan says her company’s decision to buy a unit in 3 Two Square was based on factors such as accessibility, matured neighbourhood, track record of the developer, ample car park bays and unique features including its wide frontage lots with a minimum of 28ft for high advertising exposures.

She said Quill 9 at Jalan Semangat which is due for completion soon has BMW as its ground floor tenant. Developed by the Quill Group, it has big floor plates of 20,000 sq ft to 50,000 sq ft with rentals from RM4.30 psf.

“All these new developments are a welcoming change for residents of Petaling Jaya. I have lived in PJ all my life and in the early days there was only Jaya Supermarket and the Right Angle in Section 14,” she adds.

“Today with Jaya One, Jaya 33 and others, residents have more choices in terms of dining and shopping, As more companies relocate their offices here, it has also enabled PJ residents to find jobs nearer their homes. PJ people can now work in PJ and this has helped to reduce traffic jams and improve people’s life,” she adds.

Instead of developing traditional type shop houses, developers have differentiated themselves with new products and concepts.

For example, Jaya 33 has a hyper office concept, VSQ (pronounced as V Square) has corporate offices with serviced apartments, 3 Two Square is marketed as hybrid shop offices while Jaya One in Section 13 (along Jalan Universiti) has a mix of stand alone office block, and restaurants designed in courtyard styles.

The new projects along the Federal Highway include the newly completed PJ8, PJ City and fairly new Menara LYL.

A 6-storey office block with two basement car parks is under construction two lots from Menara LYL. These, along with Menara Axis, Crystal Plaza and the row of motor showrooms (Mercedes-Benz, Chevrolet, Mazda, Ssyangyong, VW, Naza World, Subaru and Ford on the opposite of the highway) are transforming this part of Petaling Jaya into a vibrant office cum retail hub.

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Lim likens i-City to Hong Kong’s Cyberport and to Dubai’s Internet City and Media, but on a very much smaller scale. His two boys, Boon Siong, 35, and Ricky, 31, are deputy CEO and chief innovation officer respectively, are helping him.

Lim, 58, has reached a stage in his life where financial returns are no longer the main driving force. He wants to make a contribution to society. The other force driving him is his interest in technology and innovation.

Lim is not the regular entrepreneur. In the 1970s, his corporate vehicle Sumurwang introduced Dreamland brand of mattresses. Dreamland Holdings Bhd subsquently diversified into the stainless steel industry in the early 1990s and was renamed Kanzen Bhd.

Sumurwang later divested Kanzen, took an interest in Sanyo Industries Malaysia Bhd, renamed it I-Bhd and brought out a plethora of “i” brand of digital products. In 2006, I-Bhd went into the property development sector. On the unrelated nature of his past ventures, Lim says the formula remains the same.

“The word today is ‘innovation’ and because we have gone into property development, I want innovation to play a bigger role in what we put up,” he says.

When he steered the company into property development several years ago, the plan was to ultimately have two revenue streams – property development and technology – independent of each other.

Says its director Eu Hong Chew: “In about five years, property development may contribute between 60% and 70% to the group and technology the rest. One of the ways would be to offer our IT services to other developers. This will provide us with an independent IT revenue stream. The idea is to take their IT services out of i-City into other projects.

Eu says as the economy becomes more challenging, companies will look towards technology, especially IT, to help control and manage their business. “Despite the current global slowdown, our broad business direction remains relatively unchanged,” says Eu.

Like KLCC, Sentral, Mid Valley City, Bandar Utama city centre, Lim is delighted that i-City has already been given MSC Cybercentre status. Phase one, comprising about 300,000 sq ft of office space, is officially open for leasing.

Phase two with 200,000 sq ft of office space in three and five-storey units will be ready in the third quarter of next year. This will be another en bloc sale. They are in talks with investors from the Middle East, Japan, S Korea and Singapore.

“When the customer moves in, all the network, telephone infrastructure will be ready,” he says.

The entire 72 acres will take be ready in 2015 and comprises a mall with cinema facilities, several office towers and a lake of about 40 acres and park, a hotel and a small number of residential development.

Work on the mall is expected to begin in the first quarter of next year and will take three years go complete.

Eu says when i-City was planned three to four years ago, they asked themselves: What does knowledge-based office workers want? Broadband, events hall, concierge, parks and supporting amenities like food and beverage, malls and retail and a well-managed entity came into mind.

With their joint-venture partners – Sydney-based ServCorp and US-based networking equipment supplier Cisco Systems Inc among two of them – Eu and his team began to package the space accordingly.

“We are not doing a regular office commercial project, we are targeting a category of clients who like the nice perks and facilities that come with space, greenery and conveniences,” he says.

A central data centre will house the computers instead of individual companies having their own server rooms. This will be ready in the first quarter of next year. ServCorp will manage the place and Cisco, its broadband element.

There have been a lot of behind-the-scene negotiations to get the local authorities approvals for entertainment, tourism and technology elements. Incidentally, there are no cinemas, pubs or other forms of entertainment in Shah Alam due to state restrictions so i-City will certainly transform the township.

Notwithstanding the global crunch, the office environment is moving towards a greater need for conveniences, which is why ServCop and Cisco have been brought in, says Eu. When the project was first launched three years ago, the gross development value was RM1.5bil. It is estimated to exceed RM2bil today.

I-Bhd will keep between 30% and 40% of the development for recurring income and sell the rest to institutional investors. The mall, all the car parks and office towers will be kept for recurring income.

“In order to comply with MSC requirements, we have to manage the place and as such, we might as well deal with as few authorities as possible, hence, the en bloc sale. That was how it all evolved two to three years ago.

“I-City will be on a very much smaller scale compared to the international intelligent cities in Dubai and Hong Kong. As for the MSC Cybercentres in Bandar Utama, Sentral and Mid Valley, these are developments which are about 10 years old. It was only subsequently that they were given MSC status. Unlike them, we are building I-City from ground zero,” says Eu.

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