DAMANSARA is undoubtedly a name that is familiar to most Malaysians.
According to Wikipedia, the name Damansara may have come from Indian words — in Hindustani, “daman” means “foothills” while “sara” may mean either “a mansion of wealth”, or “water” in Sanskrit.
The name is said to have originated from a place previously known as “Damar Sara”.
Damansara came about because of a spelling mistake made in the 1890s. Damar Sara became “Damansara” when a land registrar mistook the letter “r” as “n” and wrongly merged the original two-word name. The spelling error probably occurred when Sir William Maxwell (then British Resident of Selangor) implemented the Torrens system of land registration pursuant to the Selangor Registration of Titles Regulations of 1891, hence the name “Damar Sara” in the maps of the state prior to 1891.
Says.com wrote that a river north of Damar Sara was subsequently named after the wrongly-spelled “Damansara” (Sungai Damansara), which then became the origin of the Damansara commune (mukim) we know today.
It also said the area defined as Damansara has also changed over time. Before 1974, the mukim of Damansara was part of Klang and covered areas like Shah Alam, Subang Jaya, Bandar Sunway, Kelana Jaya, Kota Kemuning and part of Putra Heights. Later, the areas that make up Damansara moved to the northern part of Petaling Jaya’s municipal area, bordered by Kelana Jaya in the south, Kepong/Sungai Buloh in the north, and Segambut in the east.
There are more than 25 neighbourhoods, roads and landmark buildings in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor that bear the name “Damansara”. This includes Mutiara Damansara, Damansara Utama, Damansara Jaya, Damansara Kim, Damansara Damai, Kota Damansara, Ara Damansara, Damansara Perdana, Sri Damansara, Plaza Damansara, Medan Damansara and Damansara Town Centre.
The more posh area is called Damansara Heights (Bukit Damansara) while the latest addition to the Damansara family is Damansara City.
Damansara City by GuocoLand (Malaysia) Bhd is located in Pusat Bandar Damansara. It is an integrated city development that consists of two Grade-A office towers; two towers of luxury residences known as DC Residency; DC Mall; and Sofitel Kuala Lumpur Damansara.
There is also a road called Jalan Damansara, which serves as a link between the Damansara sections of Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur.
Jalan Damansara was named after a small harbour-like settlement (which no longer exists) located near the mouth of the Damansara River along the Klang River. The harbour was known as Labuhan Sara — “Labuhan” means a place for ships to anchor, while “Sara” is “departure” or “embarkation”.
A FRENCH BAND CALLED MUTIARA DAMANSARA
Interestingly enough there is an underground metal and shoegaze band from France who calls themselves “Mutiara Damansara”.
Hailing from Caen, vocalist-guitarist Charlize Ann Myers, guitarist Cyanure Nevermore and bassist Grumpy Woodcutter formed Mutiara Damansara in 2010 and have released three albums — Every Soul Is A Shining Star (2015), Pearls (2012) and Annual Winter Depression (2010).
According to says.com, the band has been active since 2010 and is completely aware of the existence of its namesake in Malaysia after some Malaysians pointed it out on its Facebook page
It wrote that the band claims that its name has nothing to do with the Mutiara Damansara township in Petaling Jaya.
“Mutiara Damansara”, in fact, has no meaning in French.
A band member said they named themselves Mutiara Damansara as it sounded beautiful to them and after searching for exotic-sounding names.
In a Facebook posting on July 7 2016, Mutiara Damansara posted that the band is dead, but the music lives on forever.
A TOWNSHIP CALLED MUTIARA DAMANSARA
Mutiara Damansara (which means The Pearl of Damansara) was developed by Boustead Holdings Bhd. It comprises 121.4ha of residential (over 2,500 units of double-storey terraced and semi-detached houses, bungalows, high-end condominiums, as well as low- and low-medium-cost apartments), and 24.3ha of commercial (retail and corporate offices).
The retail component consists of The Curve shopping centre, Tesco Extra Mutiara Damansara, eCurve and IPC Shopping Centre (which houses IKEA).
The township was launched in 2000 and is arguably one of the most sought-after addresses in the Klang Valley.
The prices for the residential properties have escalated in the last 15 to 18 years, attributed to the location, product offering and the township’s overall concept.
The asking prices for a 20ft-by-70ft terraced house range from RM1.3 million to RM1.8 million (depending on location and built-ups) compared with around RM350,000 when it was offered by the developer in 2000.
Bungalows and semi-detached homes, which were launched in 2002 at RM1.3 million and RM843,000, respectively, are worth slightly more than double today.
According to a real estate agent, majority of homeowners are keeping their houses in Mutiara Damansara as they anticipate the prices to rise, as investment sentiment is improving.
“Some 15 to 18 years ago, people were not interested to buy a property in Mutiara Damansara, whether for investment or own stay, as they felt it was too far from Kuala Lumpur City Centre.
Furthermore, there was nothing that Mutiara Damansara could offer them in terms of lifestyle and convenience.
“The developer started to add value to Mutiara Damansara and build up the commercial zone as well as improve access roads via Persiaran Surian from Bandar Utama, Persiaran Surian from Kota Damansara, Jalan PJU 7/1 from Damansara Perdana and via Penchala Link from Kuala Lumpur.
“Today, Mutiara Damansara is one of the more popular hotspots.
"Prices may be somewhat stagnant now as homeowners are hanging on to their properties... We can expect a terraced house (corner unit) to sell at around RM2 million but that will take another few more years,” said the real estate agent.
JUMPING ON THE BANDWAGON
Many developers have been cashing in on the Damansara branding, naming their buildings, projects or townships after it.
Zerin Properties founder Previndran Singhe told NST Properties that it does not matter which developers use the name in their project, township or for their product offering as what matters is what the investors or buyers are looking for.
“Investors are very astute. Astute investors are a totally different buyer. They are aware that timing is critical in investment buying and they are in it for the long haul. They also know that location matters, and that is important for any development,” Previndran said.
Take, for example, Ara Damansara, an affluent residential township in Petaling Jaya, which is located along Jalan Lapangan Terbang Sultan Abdul Aziz.
The 299ha township was first developed in 1999 by Sime Pilmoor Development Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned unit of Sime Darby Bhd, and managed by Sime UEP Development Sdn Bhd.
During the early days, it was rather tough to sell houses at Ara Damansara as it was known for heavy traffic jams.
However, major improvements to accessibility made Ara Damansara a sought-after location. Today it is well-connected to highways, such as the New Pantai Expressway, New Klang Valley Expressway, Lebuhraya-Damansara Puchong and Federal Highway.
Ara Damansara is also home to a range of amenities, such as malls (Citta Mall, Oasis Village, Evolve Concept Mall), Tesco extra, Oasis Square and Ramsay Sime Darby Medical Centre.
Some of the earliest projects in Ara Damansara were Seri Pilmoor and Imperial Promenade and they remain among the most affluent neighbourhoods in the township.
More upmarket developments followed suit, such as the Ara Greens Residences, Ara Hill, Verde and Oasis Serviced Suites.
“Ara Damansara is well-planned and targeted at the middle- to upper-class segment of the property market. People have been buying homes in the secondary market as they know the prices of the properties will continue to appreciate in the years to come,” said a property agent in the area.
“Will the Damansara branding enter Klang, Sungai Buloh, Rawang or Semenyih? Only time will tell and don’t be surprised if property developers are already planning that.”