The Residence, TTDI

The Residence (also known as The Residence TDDI) is a high-rise luxurious condominium residing in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) enclave. It is built together with The Plaza condominium for residential along with shop lots at The Plaza by the same township developer, Naza TTDI. The whole units were reportedly sold out within 2 weeks of its launch.

The Residence is well-located in the preferred award winning township of Taman Tun Dr Ismail, which situated on the border of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. The town is also within the vicinity of Bandar Utama, Damansara Utama and Mutiara Damansara. It is a matured and low density township which comprises of old landed homes, commercial centers and some office towers.

Among landmarks nearby the area are Menara IBM (which currently being occupied by VADS), Naza World Auto Mall and Taman Rekreasi Lembah Kiara. Living in Taman Tun Dr Ismail offers peaceful living with better quality air than most area in Kuala Lumpur as the town is well-kept with greenery and parks. Being part of the upper middle class community of the Taman Tun Dr Ismail, residents of The Residence will enjoy short distance amenities and facilities around the area. Within walking distance, there is a commercial center offering a number of eateries such as Pizza Hut, KFC, La Manila and Shakey’s Pizza.

Besides that, The Residence is also near to numerous huge shopping malls namely Tropicana Mall, 1 Utama, The Curve, IKEA and Cineleisure. There is also Pasar Malam (night market) nearby which is scarce in today’s modern developed towns. As for sports enthusiasts, there are several golf courses nearby the area which include Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club (KLGCC), Kelab Golf Perkhidmatan Awam (KGPA) and Tropicana Golf Resort. Also, next to KLGCC is Bukit Kiara Golf & Equestrian Country Club Resort. It is also nearby to Damansara Specialist Hospital located at Damansara Utama.

The Residence was developed by renowned Naza TTDI which is well-known to be responsible for the whole Taman Tun Dr Ismail township development. Naza TTDI is the main property arm of Naza Group which well-known for its vehicles imports and manufacturing businesses. The group is responsible to be the sole distributor for KIA, Ferrari and Maserati in Malaysia besides handling several others car brands imports into the country like Mercedes Benz, Porche, KIA as well as Harley Davidson.

Besides township development, Naza TTDI has also developed several modern high-end developments including Laman Seri gated and guarded community in Shah Alam and TTDI Plaza in Taman Tun Dr Ismail. Currently, it is developing Platinum Park that comprises of three office towers, three condominium towers and a serviced apartment in KLCC area; The Valley TTDI comprising of 134 units of bungalows and semi-detached houses in Ampang; and TTDI Alam Impian which is another township development in Section 35, Shah Alam.

Property Details

• Name: The Residence (also known as The Residence TDDI)
• Address: Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur
• Developer: Naza TTDI (formerly known as TTDI Development and UDA SEA Park Development)
• Completion Date: 2006
• Type: Condominium
• Tenure: Freehold
• No. of Blocks: 1
• Built-up: 1,817 – 1,879 sf
• Launch Price: RM220 psf
• Subsale Price: RM350 psf
• Rental: RM3,500

Market Trends

Analysis

The main issue about The Residence is the Desa Kiara’s Muslim cemetery views from half of the units which facing south. The cemetery is located across the highway next to Desa Kiara condominium. The awkward view makes the demands for the cemetery facing units are extremely low, thus results price downturn as most of the suffering owners looking to let go their units immediately instead of holding the vacant units for so long. These owners are reportedly releasing their units at as low as RM500,000.

In terms of its layout, its smaller room has very limited source of natural lighting. But on the overall of the layout, each space is well proportioned. Nonetheless, it comprises of narrow and huge balcony which is quite pleasant.

There has been a report that there is an approved development order dated 13 August 1998 for 23-storey shopping mall with basement car park between Plaza VADS (formerly Plaza IBM) and The Residence on Lot 50973. At the current time, the developer is seeking approval to increase the building height to 25 storeys. Once the development begins, it surely exposes The Residence’s residents to hazardous pollutions that include dusty and unhealthy air and noise. Not only that, once the development completed, it will turn the access roads to The Residence congested as well.

In terms of investment, expatriates would most probably fill up Mont Kiara and KLCC residential properties, rather than Taman Tun Dr Ismail. If you are targeting local tenants who love to enjoy growing old in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, they would prefer to purchase landed properties in the area or even rent other condominium in the same area for about RM2,000 to RM3,000. In terms of capital appreciation, the subsale price has been at about RM350 psf for the last 3 years since its completion year.

If you are interested to buy The Residence for own stay, you should choose a unit preferably facing the internal side of Taman Tun Dr Ismail. As for current market price for about RM350 psf, it is a pretty good grab to live in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI). But as for investment, rental rates would seem very low as well as its demand. Looking at its occupancy at night, one can notice that most of the units are vacant. At any point of view, The Residence does not seem to deliver good return for investors in terms of both capital appreciation and rental yield criteria.