Introduction
Jalan Kuching is famous for the crawling traffic and one of the most avoidable roads during the peak hours. This is due to the multiple flow of traffic along the Jalan Kuching. For example during the morning crawl towards KL, the traffic started to build up from Batu Caves roundabout and collecting further traffic from Jalan Ipoh and Segambut roundabout before disperse the flow at Jalan Tun Razak and Jalan Sultan Ismail. Similarly evening peak hour, Jalan Kuching starts to collect traffic from Jalan Parliaments, Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Tun Razak.
Over the years there are far and few development along Jalan Kuching. Mayland has launched Regalia (technically it is at Jalan Sultan Ismail), OCR with its office suites aka Flexus and Magma Prima with its Boulevard Business Park. Further away, DEX has built Kiara East and EcoWorld launched their maiden project RM1billion GDV Ecosky.
Now Malton has come with Duta Park Residences which literally “a stone’s throw away” from KL City.
Duta Park Residences Sales Gallery
The location and accessibility
If you are frequent user of Jalan Kuching, you would not miss the Duta Park Residences site and its sales gallery. If you are coming from North (Selayang, Kepong), Duta Park Residences is located on your left side after the Segambut Roundabout. From the direction of KL City, you will need to make a U-Turn at Segambut Roundabout before making way along Jalan Kuching to Duta Park Residences
The Map and location of Duta Park Residences
Duta Park Residences biggest selling point is the close proximity to KL City. If your routine evolved heavily in KL City, bypassing the jam along the way to Selayang you can save a great deal of time commute to and from KL City. However from Propcafe’s observation, the site itself is quite isolated, sort of like island where one side bordered by Jalan Kuching and another side is bordered by Sungai Batu.
Sungai Batu
Due to the isolation, it is quite inconvenience where residents need to drive out to reach for any amenities such as banking, groceries, eateries etc. It seems that the nearest amenities is Sunway Putra Mall. In short, Duta Park Residences is near to everywhere but in the middle of nowhere.
Hence as traffic distribution as well as short cut to Jalan Ipoh for access to amenities, alternative access has been proposed from Jalan Kolam Air Off Jalan Ipoh where future bridge will be built to link Duta Park Residences. This alternative access will tremendously benefit residents for easy and nearer access to amenities in Jalan Ipoh.
Scale model access
The condition of the access road
At the moment the access seems rundown and appalling with the road via the narrow residential area. Propcafe will suggest readers to at least make a site visit around Jalan Kolam Air. SA claims the distance is around 700m to MRT2 Sentul West Station however Propcafe remain unconvinced whether the road condition (and safety) remain conducive for pedestrian to walk to MRT station….
Around Kolam Air (from google street)
Masterplan
Consists of 3 blocks of 40. 56 and 59 storeys, the development located on 4.97 acre leasehold (expire on 2115) and consists of 1.416 units.
Aerial View of Duta Park Residences
Duta Park Residences Masterplan
The façade in generally is looking good with glassy façade with almost floor to ceiling height window & balcony. Once the development completed in 3rd quarter 2022 (The completion as per SPA Schedule H is 48 months), it is probably one of the most iconic looking building along Jalan Kuching stretch.
Duta Park Residences’s Scaled model
The site plan consists of V shape building with a patch of garden on the ground, greeting the residents at the drop off area. Block A will have dedicated drop off area and block C & B will share common drop off area.
Duta Park Residences’s Garden and Drop off area.
There are two guardhouse where the main guardhouse are located off Jalan Kuching and second guardhouse is located off the bridge to Jalan Kolam Air.
Main Guardhouse
Second Guardhouse
There are 3 level of basement parking followed by 9 storeys of elevated parking. Interesting… Malton design the building as V shape rather than fill up the whole land with carpark (and hence the elevated carpark building floors can be reduced and garden built on top and not on the ground). The facilities is on level 10 with rooftop facilities on block A &B. Interestingly, Block C didn’t have rooftop facilities and Block C residents couldn’t use the rooftop facilities on block A & B. This can be advantage especially for investors. We will come back to that point later.
| Block | Total Unit | Total Lift | Unit to Lift Ratio |
| C | 268 | 3+1 | 89units/lift |
| B | 572 | 5+1 | 114units/lift |
| A | 576 | 5+1 | 115units/lift |
*Ratio is exclude the service lift
The lift ratio for Duta Park Residences seems on par with the upcoming new launches along jalan Ipoh (Read the link https://propcafe.net/propcafe-review-rica-residence-sentul-jalan-ipoh-fajarbaru/) However Duta Park Residences consist of larger layouts where smallest is 868sqft. For Rica Sentul, the smallest size is from 657sqft.
Unit Layout
In general there are 4 layouts and the composition of the unit layouts for each block are as follow
| Block | Layout | Size | Configuration | Facing |
| C (40 storeys | D | 868sqft | 2+1 | Jalan Ipoh/Pool |
| B (56 storeys) & A (59storeys) | A | 957sqft | 2+1 | Jalan Ipoh/ Bukit Tunku/ KLCC |
| B | 1129sqft | 3 | ||
| C | 1538sqft | Dual Keys |
*Currently only block A & B are opened for sale
The only different between type A & D is the type A has balcony. Being a smaller size, type D is probably more appealing to investor or home buyer with limited budget and do not need the outdoor space. One feature that Propcafe likes is a door can be installed for Asian style kitchen. The window of bedroom 1 is facing each other and quite close to each other unless you choose unit no 3 & 3A in block C. then again these units will be closest to perpetual noisy Jalan Kuching. Well, no perfect choice I must say….
Layout A
Layout D
Type B is most suitable for family and Propcafe like the spacious two rows kitchen. However the master bedroom seems a lot of space wastage.
Layout B
Type C is suitable for buyer who are looking to dual keys concept. the layout is quite similar to type B except the additional foyer and en-suite studio.
Layout C
The clear ceiling height is 10feet which is a standard nowadays. Inline with new launches where developers is cutting spec to reduce the selling price, all units are coming bare with only points for aircon (and piping) and heater. It worth to mention that the wall for the utility room for type A & D can be demolished if owners prefer a spacious living and dining area.
All type D will be allocated one carpark where else the rest will be allocated either one, tandem or two carparks. Check with the SA the specific unit which has the carpark configuration.
Slide show of unit layout type D
Slide show of unit layout type C
Porcelain tiles are given for living, dining and kitchen and more comfortable (and expensive) laminated flooring is given for all bedrooms.
Facilities
All blocks are sharing common facilities at level 10 which consists of Lap and wading pools, gym, multi purpose hall, playground and fancy named landscaped garden (such as BBQ Bamboo Garden and Open Green Deck). The lap pool is quite spacious and should be close to Olympic length lap pool.
Facilities at level 10
For Block A & B, the residents can enjoy additional 25m Infinite pool, Jacuzzi and sky lounge overlooking Bukit Tunku and KLCC. From Propcafe’s experience in Regalia, Platinum Face, the view from 59th will be priceless and amazing. Given that the starting price for block B is approximately RM550K, having rooftop facilities is amazing USP whether to soak in the view, impress your guests or even your future prospect buyers. These features are not available in elsewhere along Jalan Kuching.
Facilities at level 56 at block B
Facilities at level 56 at block A
Price, Financing and Maintenance Fee
For investors, the most important is the nett ROI and for block C due to lack of sky facilities, the maintenance fee is set at RM0.28psf where for block A & B, the maintenance fee is set at RM0.33psf. Which means for type D the owners are expected to pay around RM240permonth and type A the fee worked to be RM315 permonth. Propcafe feels that the premium fee paid for the privilege to use the sky facilities is quite justifiable however it boiled down to buyers’ priority and preference.
In general psf for block C is cheaper than block B. the nett psf can dip to below RM600psf and with this pricing the buyers will get modern façade and close proximity to KL City Centre. The pricing is even cheaper the EcoSky and LakeVille which launched 4 years ago. Of course… the micro locality is not ideal however no property is perfect…
The developer is giving quite a generous rebate and finance package. For example if you are bound by LTV70, the balance progress billing (after the first 10%) can be paid by easy 12 months installment after certified progress billing certificate is issued.
Construction Progress
Developer has obtained the APDL since July.2018 and currently is busy with the ground work. The whole development is expected to be completed by 3rd quarter 2022.
Construction site
Verdict
Over the years, Propcafe has learnt that each buyers will have their own priority, needs and wants. Developers have to flexible to meet the buyers’ requirements. Propcafe like the fact despite the absolute price just slightly above “affordable price defined by Rehda”, Duta Park Residences feels quite upmarket with 2 guardhouses, few lap pools, glassy façade, drop off area and garden, Propcafe couldn’t help about the “locality”. If the pool of buyers can overlook the fact that Duta Park Residences is quite isolated, the development can be quite an excellent value given that developer is trying to enhance the value of overall development.
Till then, happy hunting!