PROPCAFE Review : Sentral Suites @ KL Sentral By MRCB

KL Sentral Day to Night 2016

Enjoy the magnificent beautiful Day to Night view of Kuala Lumpur Sentral Malaysia dubbed as the central transportation hub of Kuala Lumpur.

Video Credit to : Vince Goh

KL Sentral, the transport hub mooted by YAB Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad, opened in 2001 with the idea to integrate  the public transportation in Klang Valley. Commuters could transit in KL Sentral by using different mode of public transport, could reach to different part of Klang Valley via ERL, KTM, Monorail and LRT. By 2017, the country first MRT line will also linked to KL Sentral via Museum station.

MRCB the master developer of KL Sentral has developed hotels, mall, offices and residential around the hub. Due to conveniences and accessibility, KL Sentral has gain popularity among corporate and residential tenant. For investors who are still holding the properties, it has given them reasonable good return and gain. The last residential and strata office launched by MRCB were Sentral Residences (Now known as The Epic) and Q Sentral where it were launched somewhere in 2010/1.

Now MRCB has come out with new launch called Sentral Suites. Is this place belongs as part of KL Sentral? Does it enjoy the same accessibility and conveniences as in KL Sentral? We shall find out.

Location

Sentral Suites sit on the site that formerly known as 100 Quarters where a controversial surrounded the site where heritage preservation was at concern.  The 3 rows of colonial-style 100 quarters was built exactly one hundred years ago, was used to house employees of the Malayan Railways, who helped to build the country’s trade and commerce.

http://kl.coconuts.co/2015/05/27/brickfields-historic-100-quarters-be-demolished-beginning-next-week

100 Quarters in dilapidated condition

There were calls by NGO to restore the quarters to the former glory as national’s heritage. Well the site ended with MRCB where the development now known as Sentral Suites.

The 4.92 acre of leasehold land located across Jalan Tun Sambathan, opposite the impressive 348 Sentral where Shell Malaysia headquarter is located.

Wikimapia the location of Sentral Suites

The Sentral Suites is franked by Jalan Rozario at the East and Lorong Chan Ah Tong at the West.

Jalan Rozario

Jalan Chan Ah Tong

Street Stalls along Jalan Chan Ah Tong

The busy 5 Lanes Jalan Tun Sambathan. Imagine trying to cut in to reach your home on daily basis

Opposite the Sentral Suites is the majestic and national heritage, Vivekananda Vashram.

Vivekananda Vashram

There is another historical look building along Lorong Chan Ah Tong

The area is filled with historical looked building

Brickfields is a popular place among tourists due to deep heritage and strong Indian culture influence in the area. In fact, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has came in 2015 to officiate Brickfield as ‘Little India’. Well, development does take place especially in KL Sentral where land is running out and developers are replenishing their landbank in anticipating of the demand.

Accessibility and Amenities

On macro glance, the location of Sentral Suites is hard to beat, with easy access to major roads such as NPE, Mahameru, Federal Highway and public transport in KL Sentral transport hub. It is easy to understand why many property investors are eagerly participating this project. However on deeper look , does it really command the premium as what KL Sentral properties do?

First look on the accessibility via cars. KL Sentral despite the crowded with offices and can be choked with traffic during peak hour, it enjoy great ingress an egress where in minutes it will bring to almost every direction of KL. However does Sentral Suites enjoy of this?

The traffic Flow around KL Sentral

From the map above, if you are coming from KL Sentral, you need to take ramp down to Jalan Tun Sambathan and make steep turn at HongLeong Bank or safer turn at YMCA. However the traffic can be choked especially during the peak hour.

Accessibility for Sentral Suites

If you are coming from Federal Highway, you are can take Jalan Tun Sambathan however for the experienced locals, they will tell you due to haphazard parkings (despite the change of traffic flow and roads widening), you can stucked in the jam for 15minute on that short stretch.

It seems that the access that make most sense would be the Jalan Rakyat from NPE and Mahameru but wait wait…. It seems the developer attempted to allow the access directly from Jalan Rakyat without going further down to the busy Jalan Tun Sambathan by cutting in, however, the motorists need to slowly cut in the busy 5 lanes road before can reach in…. I am not sure after few times of attempt, the residents would prefer to drive further up or not.

The scaled model showing the short stretch to cut into the development

Haphazard parking is normal along Jalan Tun Sambathan

In summary, there are many accesses however none it seems none are perfect and as owners who are paying similar premium as real KL Sentral properties, it is a question that you need to ponder….

Amenities are abundant where eateries, shoplots, Nu Sentral is just around the corner. Not sure whether the stalls here will make out as it seems that it is not part of the development

The stalls in front of Sentral Suites site

Sentral Suites will build a elevated pedestrian walkway that will be linked to existing covered walkway in front of 348 Sentral. However, it is a good 10minute brisk walk and you need to go through the ground level carpark and the KLIA bus stop before taking the elevator to KL Sentral.  Alternatively, you can walk along the shoplots before taking the elevator on the Monorail station.

The Proposed pedestrian walkway linking Sentral Suites

Development

How does the façade looks? One word. Busy

The façade

There are 3 blocks of 43 storey sit on 4.92 acre of leasehold land. With the first block has 458 units, there will approximately 1434 units in Sentral Suites. The density looks high however each block will have 5+1 lifts therefore the ratio is about 76unit/lift which I think is reasonable. There are amples of facilities such as 6 thematic gardens to break the monotonous façade and all the facilities such as full size basketball court, infinite and family pool, playground, gym and multipurpose hall sit on 8^th floor. Surprising there is no rooftop facilities which synonym with high end development nowadays. Hm….

Facilities on 8th Floor

Unit Layout

Currently only one block being launched which was the western block (Next to Lorong Chan Ah Tong).  In general there are 4 types of layout with configuration below

Unit Type	Built Up	Configuration	Carpark
A, Corner A	650-762	1, 1+1 bedroom	1
B/ B1	826-858	2 bedrooms	1
C, Corner C	1,025-1,138	3 bedrooms	2
D (Dual Key)	1,166	2 bedrooms + 1 suite	2

There are 2 showunits on the show gallery which is the dual key type D and type B 2 bedrooms.

Unit Layout

Floor Plate Layout and Orientation

General observation of the layout the bedrooms felt cramped and longish. For dual keys, the common bathroom seems too crowded. The bedrooms seem small and the layout seems to make space for the study area and the suite.

Show Units and Finishes

In general the quality tiles provided for living and dining and engineered timber flooring for the bedrooms. Water heater, aircon will be provided. Surprising for kitchen, only hood and hob will be provided without fridge and microwave oven. And the design of the kitchen is not finalized and depends on the final contractor that will be appointed. Hm…. Washer/ Dryer will be provided as well. The expected ceiling height is around 10ft.

Show Unit for Dual Key

Show Unit for type B

What else?

Maintenance fee expected to be RM0.39psf inclusive the sinking fund which is reasonable given the density and the size of each unit. And the most important question is the price. At this moment, it seems the 1^st block receive a good booking response with all the 1 and 1+1 bedrooms have been booked. Starts from RM730K, there is an early bird of 7% rebate from the developer. In general, the nett price is expected around RM1100psf+/-. Do check the exact price of each unit/type/level with the friendly SA. The construction is expected to take about 48months. If you plan to buy additional carpark, the price is RM35K which in my opinion is very reasonable.

Summary

Propcafe always like KL Sentral and the accessibility and conveniences associated with it. However Propcafe cannot help but think that Sentral Suites is riding on the popularity of KL Sentral with premium price.. also for the price, the provided freebies and facilities can be ‘better”. End of the day, not much of land available in KL Sentral (if you can accept this location as part of KL Sentral) and in long run, the supply is limited despite the 1400units in 5acres land in Sentral Suites itself.

 

Happy investing!