Decentrum Site Progress - 30-5-15

Taken just right out of the Kajang Toll Exit at Kajang Seremban Highway. Progress seems to have slowed a bit after a slight boost of construction activities over the past 2 months. At the moment the verdict is the developer can be able to deliver the product within the promised period. 

Developer is now collecting TNB Electrical Deposit from purchasers to register for electricity supply. Initial deposit is RM 500 and above. This means the next progressive payment is coming soon.

The next progressive payment would be for 

2f : The sewerage works serving the said building

2g : The drains serving the said building

2h : The roads serving the said building

This is going to happen soon as the developer has started to do the roads serving the building. 

Shopping Malls in South Klang Valley

Below are the shopping malls ready and under contruction in South Klang Valley area. It should drive further migration of the population towards the southern regions of Klang Valley. 

Looking from the list, Cyberjaya will have the most malls but considering the amount of development planned there, data center, office space, education, commercial and residential, it should be sustainable in the long term. However in the short to medium term there will be very fierce competition for retail space and will probably be a renter's market for maybe 3 years. 

The ability to differentiate will be very important. The smaller malls have to focus and have selective tenant mix rather than getting a full range of tenants.

Cyberjaya

DPulze Shopping Centre
Centrus Shopping Mall

3rd Avenue (Under Construction)

Pan'gaea Shopping Mall (Under Construction)

Roppongi Mall (Under Construction)

SkyPark Cyberjaya  (Under Construction)
The Place Cyberjaya  (Opening Soon)
Cyberjaya City Centre (PR1MA housing)
Shaftsbury Square 

Bangi

Decentrum Mall
Gateway@KLIA2 

Sepang
Mitsui Outlet Park KLIA

Putrajaya

Alamanda

IOI City Mall

Don't play play, Protasco, the De Centrum development project is an award winning developer. The project was listed as "Best Mixed Development" by Property Insights Magazine.

Below is an interview with the developer

Very notable Quotes :

Green Hanging Gardens all over the place

De Centrum Sky Park at Level 9

Facilities level in a condominium refers to the floor which houses all the shared facilities like pool, gym, courts, playground and small parks. This term has undergone an upgrade in name, some condonimum projects refer the facilities level to Sky Terraces, Sky Gym, Sky Club, Sky Lounge, Eko Terraces, Eko Lounge etc. The common theme here is to add the word 'Sky' and 'Eko'. 

For the Decentrum Project, they refer the facilities level to Sky Park. Located at level 9, the gym and infinity pool will be situated here. The shared barbecue area is also located here. There is suppose to have a cafe and shaded park around here.  

Updated from project slides :
The list of facilities to be provided by developer at the Sky Park is :

• Infinity Swimming Pool
• Lap Swimming Lane (this I like)
• Gazebo by the pool
• children's pool
• children's playroom
• children's playground
• reading lounge
• cafe
• jacuzzi
• laundrette
• surau
• gymnasium 

Decentrum SkyPark Artist Impression

MRT 2 Stations (Revised Link)

Initially, there was suppose to be an MRT2 station very near the De Centrum City. Yours truly bought the project primarily due to the MRT2 project.  The site was proposed to be in front of the uniten food court, hence the station was called Uniten MRT2 station.

During the recent months, the alignment was changed a bit and now it is no longer within  walking distance from the MRT2 to the De Centrum project. The Uniten MRT2 station was removed from the alingnment making the closet MRT2 station the UPM station. According to what MRT corp has drawn out, the MRT2 station is inside UPM (University Putra Malaysia). 

Based on the site progress, the De Centrum developer Protasco is building a bus station in front of the project. If SPAD can use its RapidKL busses to collect passengers from Decentrum to MRT2 then the prospects of the development would be more positive.

As for MRT1, the nearest station is Kajang whereby the developer Protasco has proposed to set up a feeder bus service from De Centrum City to Kajang MRT station.

Decentrum Site Progress - 26-5-15

70% completed based on progressive billings. After rushing to build the four walls up to the top floors, there was a slowdown for a while and then suddenly the developer started from the bottom floors again by painting and putting in the hard furnishings like windows.

In addition to that, seems like the road leading toward the property is also being widened and redone. I suspect the trees which are blocking the view of the mall will be chopped off. The bus stop in front of the property also seems like ready already.

SOHO and Residence component seem like on schedule to complete before November.

At the moment the mall component doesn't look very aesthetically pleasing yet, it looks more like a normal office 3 storey office block. However, based on the original design, developer suppose to put some decorative panelling to make it look more like a neighborhood mall. Let's hope the arkitek Veritas Design lives up to their name in doing good design. This place is no Tribeca (a high end condo by Veritas Design) but being 50% of it good enough already.

Decentrum Mall - Ready in Nov 2015

The pictures above are taken from artist sketches of the Decentrum Mall. The drawings look really impressive as compared to what is currently under construction. Hopefully I am proven wrong on this as the drawings show very good use of lightings and greenery to accentuate feel of the mall. 

Target opening will be Nov 2015.  There will be a total of 3 levels and mall space of only 160,000 sq ft.  Developer website says that it can fit over 120 retail units.  Just to put things into perspective, 160,000 sq ft is very small, Atria Damansara is listed as 470,000 sq ft, 3 times the size of Decentrum Mall. In fact, I would say it cannot be considered as a mall, instead more like a shopping arcade.  

The success to this mall is to focus on making it a good neighborhood mall. Having a good grocer chain would help and strong F&B tenant at the ground floor and outdoor area. The main strength of this mall is that it is highly visible between the intersections of SKVE and North South. The mall is become a stopover for cars traveling on these highways. 

I predict the developer will have problems renting out the 3rd floor units as this mall is not really suitable for other types of tenants besides F&B and grocers.

Update 2015-09-22

The De Centrum City mall will be called Gallerie @ De Centrum.

Decentrum Site Progress - 10-4-15

Decentrum Location Map

6 minutes from IOI City Mall, Putrajaya

De Centrum Mall, Residence and SOHO Video