Business Today, March 2009
Tropicana City Sdn Bhd aims to carve a niche in Petaling Jaya as a modern, lifestyle mall with the introduction of the Tropicana City Mall.
With an abundance of retail malls in Klang Valley, there are not many built to be neighbourhood malls that also aim to strive for excellence in customer service and maintenance. This is what Tropicana City Mall, under Tropicana City Sdn Bhd (formerly known as Dijaya Land Sdn Bhd), aims to achieve.
According to its managing director, Tong Kien Onn, customer service is what the company wants to be known for.
Says he: “We are also very particular about managing our properties and we invest time and money in maintenance, upgrading and refurbishment activities. Tropicana City Mall will act as a major revenue centre and we will ensure it retains its current level of customer service.”
Tropicana City Mall aims to fill a void in retail property market in Petaling Jaya and is positioning itself as a modest-sized, lifestyle neighbourhood mall. Among its unique features is the signature glass portal with changing colour hues that light up at night and a glass-domed skylight.
The mall has a total gross floor area of about 700,000 sq ft and a total nett lettable area of around 450,000 sq ft. it has four levels of retail with a hypermarket and approximately 200 retail lots. In addition, there are 1,700 car park bays, and an additional 1,700 car park bays located at Tropicana City Business Park, which is linked by an existing direct underpass.
There are total of 601 units of serviced suites call Tropicana City Tropics and a 12-storey Tropicana City Office Tower.
The New Pulse of PJ
The company’s concept positioning is “the new pulse of PJ” for the middle-income market catchment in the area. It focuses on conveniences for daily needs, services, a variety of food and beverage outlets, entertainment, lifestyle and fashion to serve
the office crowd and surrounding residential areas. The office tower strategically fronts the Sprint Expressway and the intersection of LDP.
Says Tong: “With the mall, office and residential components, it is an attractive option compared with other mixed development properties in the area. The entire project involved an investment of RM310 million.”
He points out that as a neighbourhood mall, most people would look for convenience to shop for daily necessities and Carrefour provides that option. The Tropicana City Mall also provides entertainment with its upcoming cinema and quality
food and beverage outlets.
The initial intention of the company was to sell the building, as there was interest among Singaporean and other foreign investors. However, upon further reflection, the decision was made to lease it out.
“We started marketing office units a couple of months ago and we are in ongoing negotiations with companies. The target market is for middle- to upper-income earners.
“The shopping mall and offices are leased out as we opted for this strategy to earn recurring income and cashflow. Being in property development is challenging and if you merely build properties and sell them, after you have sold the property, you need you start all over again and hunt for more land or properties. Our company is mid-sized and our gearing is low,” says Tong.
By June this year, Tropicana City Mall’s GSC multiplex cinema will be operational and the area will have more access points via road linkages from Taman Tun Dr Ismail and this will give people an alternative to reaching Tropicana City easily. This will help attract more visitors to the mall.
Tong explains that the idea behind the concept of Tropicana City was developed as a concerned effort by the management team. The team meets regularly and jointly came up with the concept of lifestyle neighbourhood mall and its serviced suites are
targeted for young, upwardly mobile people in their 20s and 30s. Of the 601 units, it has sold 70% to 80%.
On revenues from the mall, he anticipates that once the loan is completely settled, the cashflow is expected to be RM18 million to RM20 million annually coming into the group while the income from the office units is expected to be RM3 million. This should be the amount at least for the first three years, according to Tong.
The Journey
Looking back, he notes that the company had initially decided to build a shopping mall in the Petaling Jaya area in 1996 to 1997. During the financial crisis, it had secured the financing for this project but at the time there were stumbling blocks and
so it was deferred. Initially, the mall was expected to be 900,000 sq ft or 10% to 15% bigger than the 1 Utama old wing, which is about 700,000 to 800,000 sq ft. It was intended that the proposed mall be positioned as a regional mall.
However, after the 1997 financial crisis, there had been major expansion activities by the prominent malls in the Klang Valley such as Mid Valley, Sunway Pyramid and 1 Utama.
Tong elaborates: “About three years ago when we revised this plan, we realised that it would not be the right move to embark on such an ambitious mall and our consultant advised us not to compete with Mid Valley, 1 Utama or other rapidly-expanding malls. This is when the idea of a neighbourhood mall first took shape.
Among the attractions of Tropicana City Mall is the 35,000 sq ft GSC multiplex, Toys “R” Us which are mini anchors, while there is spa and wellness centre, as well as an IT Centre amongst other hobbies and gadget outlets. The Carrefour hypermarket occupies about 123,000 sq ft on the lower ground while other well-known outlets are Nichii, Best Denki, Borders and Gymboree.
Other tenants include Starbucks, Kenny Rogers Roasters, Kiku Zakura, Uncle John Kopitiam, Esquire Kitchen, Santini, San Francisco Steak House, Room 18, Sushi Tei, Penang Village, 1901 Hotdog, Caring Pharmacy, Focus Point, Body
Shop, X-Cut, Smart Uniform, Newsplus, House of Jue Bao, OPI Nail Bar, Creative Nail, Monsoon ID Hair Salon, Video Ezy, Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks, Sox World, The Face Shop, Red Army Watches, A Look, DiGi, Sony Ericsson Concept
Store and a Nokia Concept Store.
It also has BodyBar Natural Skincare, the first organic skincare store claiming to provide 100% natural ingredients, Good Taste Cafe, Kidz Spot, Bad Ass Coffee that offers aromatic coffee and snacks, Story Book, which is a concept photo compilation services store, and Tuan Yuan a local snack outlet.
