Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Berjaya Eyes Foreign Buyers For Ritz-Carlton Project

Source : The Business Times, January 13, 2009

(KUALA LUMPUR) Berjaya Corporation Bhd (BCorp) expects RM2 billion (S$831.68 million) in gross development value (GDV) from its Ritz-Carlton Residences Kuala Lumpur project.

Located in Kuala Lumpur's 'Golden Triangle', the 48-storey twin towers project has 300 luxury apartment residences of 292 standard units and eight penthouses.

It is slated for completion in 2011. The property is expected to cost around RM2,000 to RM2,500 per square feet.

BCorp's chairman and chief executive officer, Vincent Tan Chee Yioun said the construction cost for the project was estimated at about RM800 million, and the company had already invested almost RM200 million for sub-structure work via internal funding.

'There is still no bank borrowing for the project and we just need some construction financing,' he told reporters after an agreement signing ceremony between BCorp's wholly owned subsidiary, Wangsa Tegap Sdn Bhd and Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company LLC for the development, here yesterday.

The signing was witnessed by Housing and Local Government Minister Ong Ka Chuan.

Wangsa Tegap, is also the owner of the property, formerly know as Berjaya Central Park.

'We wanted to originally launch it as the Berjaya Central Park.

But having visited similar development around the world, we felt it would be far better managed by a world renowned organisation,' Mr Tan said.

Show units are scheduled to be launched in August or September this year, and Mr Tan is confident that the project will attract 150 buyers despite the current economic slowdown.

'We are confident of securing the 150 buyers because we have Ritz-Carlton managing it.

'We are also looking for high-end, wealthy customers and we expect more than half from overseas,' he explained.

On the Malaysian property outlook, he said there may be a slight slowdown but the market was generally fine with every project committed still under construction. -- Bernama

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