Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on May 23, 2022 - May 29, 2022

The Covid-19 outbreak has disrupted many business plans, including the launch of Rimbaran @ Gaia Gardens at Setia Eco Templer.

“We were supposed to launch Rimbaran much earlier. However, the virus outbreak disrupted the plan. We didn’t launch anything here for more than two years. Setia Eco Templer is very different now. It is more vibrant with more residents and the completion of our shopoffices. I can’t wait to invite all to see our township and unveil our upcoming launch, Rimbaran,” Setia Eco Templer general manager Dianne Chan tells City & Country in an exclusive interview.

Rimbaran is one of the four components of the 41-acre Gaia Gardens within the Setia Eco Templer township in Rawang, Selangor. It is the first of the four components to be launched and comprises 74 Balinese-inspired semidees and link villas.

The 28 semidees each have a built-up of 2,700 sq ft (land area: 32ft by 80ft) and start at RM1.59 million. The 46 link villas with built-ups ranging from 2,100 to 2,800 sq ft are priced from RM1.1 million.

“Rimbaran is our first launch [in Setia Eco Templer] after Amantara. Due to the pandemic, in the past few years, the team was focusing on clearing existing stock while continuing to observe the market changes,” Chan shares. 

“The market is so different now; buyers are looking for something more. Yes, landed property is still a popular product yet not many people can afford them, especially the larger built-up semidees, bungalows and link villas. Through our most recent market survey, we understand that buyers do not mind sacrificing some space to make their dream of owning a landed home come true. This is why we decided to revise our Rimbaran [unit layouts].”

Chan: Rimbaran is an upgraded version of the link villas in Amantara and Peranakan Straits (Photo by Shahrin Yahya/The Edge)

In the initial master plan and design of Gaia Gardens, Rimbaran had more semidees than link villas, and the original design for the latter had a slightly bigger layout. 

“There are two layout types for the link villas in Rimbaran to choose from. The built-ups are 2,100 and 2,800 sq ft. Each unit will have a view — either the lake view or the garden view — hence, very good privacy. The original layout for link villas was actually bigger. We made some adjustments so that the price is more affordable.

“However, it doesn’t mean that the link villa is smaller or anything lesser [in terms of features]. The team has put a lot of effort into the layout to make it practical and to tick each box in the buyers’ checklist for landed property. We listened to the market feedback from our previous launches — Amantara and Peranakan Straits. I would say that Rimbaran is an upgraded version of the link villas in Amantara and Peranakan Straits,” Chan says.

The strategy seems to have worked as Rimbaran has received overwhelming interest since registration opened in February. The upcoming launch of 74 units garnered close to 600 registrations within a month.

“We are very optimistic about the launch despite it being a product that is selling from RM1 million. We did our market survey and the registration of interest gave us confidence. We also had some exclusive preview sessions, in which every single session was fully booked and many of them wanted to put down booking fees right after the session,” Chan says enthusiastically. Rimbaran will be officially launched at the end of May, she adds.

As Gaia Gardens is connected to Amantara and Peranakan Straits in the same gated and guarded compound and shares two entran­ces, its residents will get to enjoy all the lakes, creeks, pocket gardens, jogging track and children’s playgrounds. Other facilities such as swimming pool and gym are available in the clubhouse of Setia Eco Templer with a monthly subscription fee, which is yet to be determined.

Setia Eco Templer is accessible via the toll-free roads of Jalan Rawang and Jalan Kuching. It is also connected via the North-South Expressway (NSE), Guthrie Corridor Expressway and Kuala Lumpur-Kuala Selangor Expressway (LATAR).

The Rawang-Serendah bypass cuts the journey to Serendah, Selayang and KL city centre from two hours to about 30 minutes during peak hours.

On top of that, an interchange at Setia Eco Templer opened in April last year, with its starting point at Persiaran Eco Templer, giving road users a shorter route to Jalan Rawang. This will benefit residents living within a 10km radius, as it provides a smoother connection to major highways including LATAR, Guthrie Corridor Expressway and NKVE.

The entrance of Gaia Gardens (Photo by S P Setia)

Moving forward

Chan hopes to launch the second component of Gaia Gardens, Jimbaran, by year-end. 

“Jimbaran is similar to Rimbaran. It will have Balinese-inspired semidees and link villas. If everything goes smoothly, we are looking to launch by the end of this year,” she says.

Meanwhile, the last two components of Gaia Gardens, which consists of English-inspired bungalows, semidees and link villas, will be launched gradually from next year.

Officially launched in 2016, the 194-acre Setia Eco Templer offers English-, Peranakan- and Balinese-inspired landed homes, low-rise residential units, shopoffices and a Rumah Selangorku affordable housing scheme.

First to be launched in the township were Essex Gardens, comprising English-inspired landed homes, in 2016. It is also the largest residential phase in Setia Eco Templer with 234 landed homes comprising bungalows, semidees and link villas. Essex Gardens was completed in 2019.

This was followed by Peranakan Straits and Amantara. The former was completed and handed over to buyers last year, while Amantara was handed over to buyers in March this year.

“Our shopoffices, The Grove, which front the main road, were also recently completed and handed over to buyers. Businesses are slowly moving in. Currently, we have a mamak restaurant, café, restaurant, clinic, laundry and even a small fresh grocer’s,” Chan says. “The place is very different now from 2016. It has become more vibrant, but we will not stop here, we want to do more to bring up this area.”

Chan shares S P Setia’s plan for developing a waterfront commercial hub next to The Grove. “It is not a mall. We want to create a lifestyle here through this project. We will select some good restaurant and café brands, as well as bring in a grocer. It will be a commercial hub and a hangout for our residents, as well as the residents from the surrounding areas.”

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