Last week two of the propcafe editors have privilege to visit VP-ed units of Vipod ahead of the official VP from 12.August.2013. For propcafe detailed review of the Vipod, readers can read it https://propcafe.net/vipod-residence-klcc/.
For investors that familiar with KL property scene, the developer of Vipod is famed to developer some high rises in Penang and contractor of Oval KLCC. They are also developer of Titiwangsa Sentral and Oval Damansara and these project have made some handsome gains for earlier investors. Currently aside of recent VP-ed Vipod, they are developing Monoland SOHO and Quadro. All these are luxury condos in KLCC. Soon they will develop upcoming KLCC project… Stay tune on this.
Completed Facade
Back to Vipod now. At the first impression at the guardhouse, we feel the gate barrier is not suitable for high traffic care movement. Rather than using gantry type barrier, Vipod has opt to use swing type gate. Imagine if there are few cars queuing to enter Vipod…. There will be a backlog…. On general observation, the common areas are not ready…. The workers are busying readying the lobby. The access cards and the passenger lifts are not fully operated. Due to lack of access card, we need to take the bomba lift to the unit however we can use the passengers lift to ground. There are no floor button on the lift panel…. You need to use the access card to activate the lift and the lift will bring you to the unit. The question is if you have visitors. You need to go 1. Go to lobby to pick up the visitors. 2. Request visitors to use service lift (which is unlikely as this is premier condo} and 3rd. visitor will be required to leave their ID/ driving license to the guard and visitor card will be issued that only allow access to the floor. The visitor access card need to be return in order to get back your ID/ driving license. It will be interesting to see whether Monoland will adopt 3rd method for the visitors. Still on the lift, apparently the lift used is from MSL, the similar company that supply lift to Titiwangsa Sentral. For people that familiar with Titiwangsa Sentral, the lifts have been the bane for the condo. There are numbers of fingers pointing between developer and lift supplier the root cause of the frequent breakdown of the lifts. However upon consultation with the contractor, apparently lift supplied are imported from Japan where else it’s local made for Titiwangsa Sentral hence explanation of the higher quality… Well the it remains to be seen whether Vipod will face the similar fate as Titiwangsa Sentral…
Lift without floor button
Well as consolidation each block which consist of 4 or 3 units/ floor are sharing 3+1 lifts…. Which worked to be 38units/lift one of the lowest density and rivalling those exclusive projects with lowest lift density.
On the unit. In nutshell, those small sizes 635sqf 1+1bedroom and exclusive corner 793sqft 2 bedrooms are facing Pavilion where else the larger type 2 bedrooms and 2+1bedrooms varieties are facing KLCC.
Pavilion View Units
Due to time limitation issue, we focus more the 1+1bedrooms type. Upon the main door, we are greeted with the biometric lock door. The door itself is made of the solid wood.
Biometric lock door
Once we enter the unit, we were greeted with luxury teak flooring. For 1+1 type, dining/living/bedrooms are timber flooring except kitchen is marble flooring. We are greeted with floor to ceiling window and due to the façade and concept, none of the glass panel can be opened except for the small panel right on top of centre. For all the small size units (with maybe exception corner units in block C and high floor units), the view will be blocked by Novotel hotel.
The view
The whole unit is air conditioning by VRV air con and plastered ceiling
Ventilation ducting
If you notice at edge of the plaster ceiling perimeter, the plaster is finished at such way leaving small gap with shadow. The create ID effect and was told this is European design.
Shadowline Plaster Ceiling
Also note from picture above there are no skirting… Again was told by the ID guy that this is quite common in Europe however it is very difficult to achieve good finishes…. Well we could see clear from our naked eyes that a lot of improvement required in this area….
On this picture, you can see there two doors leading to the master bedroom which is weird. From our observation, this 2 doors are supposed to be sliding door and to the reason beyond our comprehension, it has become swing doors…
Two doors on the left side
The powerpoints are pretty nice looking..
Powerpoints
Now to the kitchen. The kitchen cabinet supplied by Signature Kitchen, a local brand that is quite reputable among local. The kitchen is white glossy finished and Ariston hood, hob and oven.
Overall look of kitchen
The induction hob
Hood
Oven
Designer mixer
Food disposal
Space for washing machine
The master bedroom finishes is quite similar to the living and dining area… The high floors should able to afford fire crackers from bukit bintang during New Year eve.
Bedroom finishes
The bathroom is fitted with luxury Jacuzzi, shower set that include a rain shower. The rain shower has a led than turned from blue to red color when the water is hot. Pretty amusing.
Jacuzzi
The sink and toilet is quite disappointing and I think better model can be supplied.
Sink and toilet
There is a small windowless room that can be used as a study area however if users do not mind, they can convert the room to small single room.
Study room
KLCC view units
In my view, the larger size with KLCC views are simply glorious….. Imagine the whole span of living and dining with floor to ceiling overlooking KLCC and for high floor KLCC park as well…. Simply breathtaking….
Breathtaking KLCC view
Due to time limitation we just managed few snapshots…
Kitchen
Bathroom
Amazing Corner Unit
Rooftop view
The rooftop is the sky club and the entrance and usage will be tentatively based on RM0.20psf which means if your unit is 635sqft, you are expected to pay RM120permonth for the usage of pool, dancing room and glorious gym…. At the moment, except for some planted palm trees, the rooftop clubs are not ready and probably will be ready in 3-4 months time…. At the moment we should just enjoy the glorious views….
The KLCC view
The Pavilion view
The KL Tower view
Conclusion
In our one hour visit, there are many improvements can be made… The common area workmanship is not ready and there is not reason for developer to rush the handover. The SNP is signed in October and as luxury condo, I think Monoland should take the time and deliver the condo in right condition. At the moment the condo is not ready and I suspect it will take another 1-2 months to get everything running smoothly… The finishes are great and I love the teak flooring. However there are some flaws in architectural selection. For example the bathroom is poorly designed with so many swing doors and make the bathroom extremely hard to navigate. And secondly the glass panel as wall selection in bathroom. Glass panel is great to look however it come in as panel when water will be splashed and bound to seep through the panel to wall. In the long run, it will leave stain behind the glass panel. The fine detailed finishes are not great and you can see some scratches at window, floors walls etc….
I also have deep reservation on type of the lift used. There are many type of reputable lifts such as Otis, Kone, Schindler, ThyssenKrupp, Mitsubishi etc and Monoland has opted Toshiba (MSL lift) which notoriously always breakdown in Titiwangsa Sentral (However it is much much better nowadays and no longer heard much complaints from residents). Well, I hope there wouldn’t be any major breakdown…
Anyway, let’s not take credit away from Vipod and Monoland. This project is at excellent location. In my view, it is among the best location in whole KLCC or Propcafe zone 1 area. Not many projects can rival Vipod location that straddle in between KLCC and ever happening and popular Pavilion. The prices paid by investors three years are great and most of them are not deterred by Monoland policy buy to 1 big entitle 1 small unit purchase. In fact I feel the larger size particularly the 793sqft 2bedrooms are one of the best units around not only in Vipod but in whole KLCC. The kitchen cabinet, the choice of fitting are good. I think in ever competitive KLCC market, Vipod will standout not only among the iconic high rise and proud owners but choice dwellings among residents and tenants as well that need compact size in superior location.