PROPCAFE Review : Damansara Foresta @ Sri Damansara By L&G

Have you ever been to Taman Negara (National Park) in Pahang?Have you ever think of having bird sanctuary, jungle track, jogging tracks, herbs/flowers/fruits orchard, hot springs, camp sites and picnic area, mini lake garden at your door step?

Now you don’t have to travel to Pahang as it is available at Damansara address, i.e. Damansara Foresta. This last piece of 42 acres forest is located in Bandar Sri Damansara, across from the neighboring  Damansara Perdana and Desa Park City.

The 11 blocks of high rise condo development will be divided into 4 phases with Phase 1 (4 blocks), Phase 2 (2 blocks),  and Phase 3 and 4 (3 blocks each). These 11 blocks will be built on 21 acres of class 1 and class 2 land, whereas the remaining 21 acres of class 3-4 land will be kept as it is with above mentioned forest facilities. According to the financial report, this is a 10 years development project with the final phase to be delivered to the purchasers by year 2022.

The phase 1 consists of 4 blocks, there are few types of units available for sales, BU ranging from 1400sqft (Type A) to 1610sqft (Type D). The first block was launched in 2^nd week of Jan 2012, with the price starting from RM400psf, due to the good response, the block A was sold out within a week. Block B was opened for booking a week later with price tag of RM450psf.  Block B was sold at higher price due to its North South orientation, compared to Block A’s East West Orientation. Block  B was sold by balloting basis. It was able to attract the attention from the other industry players. Rumors indicated that even the sales team of TA’s Damansara Avenue invested in this project.

Block D was launched in March 2012, and Block C the last block of Phase 1 was launched few months after.  While launching Block C, the developer has set up the online booking portal so as to allow those who live outside Klang Valley to make their booking online. To date around 85% of the units were sold.

 

The 11 blocks of high rise condo development will be divided into 4 phases with Phase 1 (4 blocks), Phase 2 (2 blocks),  and Phase 3 and 4 (3 blocks each). These 11 blocks will be built on 21 acres of class 1 and class 2 land, whereas the remaining 21 acres of class 3-4 land will be kept as it is with above mentioned forest facilities. According to the financial report, this is a 10 years development project with the final phase to be delivered to the purchasers by year 2022.

The phase 1 consists of 4 blocks, there are few types of units available for sales, BU ranging from 1400sqft (Type A) to 1610sqft (Type D). The first block was launched in 2^nd week of Jan 2012, with the price starting from RM400psf, due to the good response, the block A was sold out within a week. Block B was opened for booking a week later with price tag of RM450psf.  Block B was sold at higher price due to its North South orientation, compared to Block A’s East West Orientation. Block  B was sold by balloting basis. It was able to attract the attention from the other industry players. Rumors indicated that even the sales team of TA’s Damansara Avenue invested in this project.

Block D was launched in March 2012, and Block C the last block of Phase 1 was launched few months after.  While launching Block C, the developer has set up the online booking portal so as to allow those who live outside Klang Valley to make their booking online. To date around 85% of the units were sold.

 

The pro and cons of this project are:

Pros

1)      Strategically located in damansara address with forest theme, first of its kind in Damansara. The residents will have the exclusive access to the forest facilities until it is officially handovered to MPPJ in year 2022

2)      The construction site is 180 metres above the sea level, surrounded by 3000 natural trees. Each block comes with roof top garden, and it is said to be equivalent of 86 floor from sea level, or 2 storey lower than Petronas Twin Tower. On the roof top garden it would be able  to have panoramic view of entire Damansara and Kepong, 270 degree view of city skyline.

3)      Reasonable price of RM400psf (Block A) to RM550psf (Block C)

4)      Location x3. BSD is a matured township with international school, Sek Keb, SRJKC, with all the major banks, eateries, and commercial.

5)      Price push factors from the later phases. The price is lower than the surrounded development such as TA’s Damansara Aevenue and DPC’s Westside 2.

6)      Land and general, is the master developer of BSD, it was ranked No. 7 in terms of cash position by the Edge in 2012. So the abandon risk due to cash flow is minimal.

 

Cons

1)      The construction at this slope side is quite challenging, but mitigated by the granite ground and developer has started enhancing the foundation of the site a year prior to the Block A launching. However, many potential purchasers are still worried about the landslide possibilities.

2)      There is no smaller built up units, so the absolute price would be sub 600K for a 1400sqft. High entry level for purchasers.

3)      Traffic condition on the access roads. Currently there are only 2 lanes narrow access road from the BSD. Developer promised to widen the road to 4 lanes , according to LnG this is the pre-requisite before VP by the Land office.

4)      If excluded the  21 acres of forest, some potential purchasers felt that 11 blocks on 21 acres are congested.