THE RM5 billion Empire City Damansara (ECD1) project, which was launched in 2011 in Damansara Perdana, is set to be fully completed before the end of next year.
Sprawled over 9.3ha of freehold land, ECD1 would have a total gross floor built-up of 12.5 million sq ft, said Mammoth Empire Holding (MEH) Sdn Bhd group executive director Datuk Danny Cheah.
He said the magnitude of the entire development, upon full completion, is comparable to Mid Valley City and The Gardens combined.
ECD1 will have 11 towers that sit on a retail podium — Empire City Mall — and are divided into six zones.
The residential towers, Halo and Sunday, sit in Zone 1, and Colonial and MyLoft in Zone 2. The towers were completed two years ago and are currently occupied, said Cheah.
Zone 3 — the hotel zone—will see the opening of Marriot Hotel and Autograph Hotel by the middle of next year and by end 2020, respectively.
Marriot Hotel would operate from the ground floor to Level 20, and apartments would take Level 21 to 45, said Cheah.
Zone 4 houses Signature Tower H (PHB) and ESH Tower. Both buildings have been completed and are occupied.
Zone 5 is home to the Malaysia Ice Hockey Stadium, HCK Tower and a cinematic themed hotel called McGuffin. HCK Tower and McGuffin are still under construction.
Cheah said HCK Tower and Autograph would be completed by the end of this year while McGuffin should be ready by mid 2020.
MyEG Tower and SoHo Block M are located in Zone 6.
According to Cheah, MEH has sold RM2 billion worth of properties in ECD1 since the development started in 2011.
The sales included five residential towers with 2,300 apartment units and four office blocks that were acquired by HCK, PHB, MyEG and ESH.
“We are proud of this development... it is like our baby. From the conception stage until its construction and completion, we see through every part of it.
“We look into the details of the project, including its space, utilisation and functionality. The assets... offer better value and for investors who purchase them, there is price appreciation.
“The strong point for Empire City is that the components are designed well-balanced in terms of long-term sustainability,” he told NST Property.
GETTING THE MALL READY
Cheah said MEH’s current priority is to complete Empire City Mall. The mall is expected to open its door to the public by the end of next year. With a net lettable area of 2.3 million sq ft and more than 600 outlets, the mall is currently 80 per cent completed, he said.
“We have completed Zone 5 of the mall, which is where the Ice Skating ring is located. The ring has been opened to the public since the SEA Games.”
Cheah said the next area to open is the concourse level, which involves 500,000 sq ft of space, housing more than 60 tenants.
He said there were some challenges in the last two to three years due to a slowdown in retail spending, adding that some international brands have said they will defer their outlet openings.
“Some retailers have postponed their opening or stopped expansion, in a way telling us that they are not opening. Due to this reason, we have to restructure spaces that were committed three years ago.
“Three years ago, we almost had about 70 per cent of occupancy, but due to the changes, we had to renegotiate and restructure the tenant mix as they were scattered all over. We didn’t want to open the mall with retailers scattered all over the place. We had to regroup them into one zone so that when the zone opens, it is full. This is what we have been doing in the last two years,” he said.
Cheah said MEH is optimistic about the retail market, given that the project can be accessed from major highways and is located in a good catchment area.
“When we carried out a market study before we started planning the mall, we found that the demographics within a 5km radius of the project offer strong catchment. You have Mont Kiara, Kota Damansara, Bandar Utama, Damansara Jaya and Kepong. These are all matured neighbourhoods and within 10 to 15 minutes of drive from Empire City.
“It has been proven that One Utama and The Curve have worked perfectly well in this location and we are only a stone’s throw away.”
He said back in 2017, MEH’s valuation was RM1.75 billion.
Cheah believes that the value has increased today given that more assets and infrastructure have been developed in and around Empire City.
“A mall is very much yield-based. If the yield reaches a certain percentage like seven per cent, we will have to re-evaluate the mall. The moment the mall reaches the second term, the yield will get better.”
He said MEH would retain Empire City Mall, Marriot, Autograph and McGuffin as well as the carpark for recurring income.
However, he didn’t rule out disposing of these assets if there is a good offer.
“In the past two years there have been offers for the hotels, but we are not in a hurry to sell.”
RM130 MILLION FOR INFRASTRUCTURE
MEH is spending some RM110 million to build three major roads, drainage and sewerage system for the Empire City development, said Cheah.
The company has also invested more than RM20 million to builda6.6 million-gallon water tank for ECD1 and the upcoming ECD2 project, he said.
“About RM100 million investment is just to build the three roads, in order to serve the community and visitors. Empire City has 11 towers sitting above the mall. We have offices, residences, apartments, SoHos and hotels... so, there is a good ecosystem. The working population in this development today is about 5,000 people. MyEG has close to 2,000 workers here. Tower H, which has WPP, Grab and us, has about 2,000 people.
“In terms of apartments, we have over 1,000 units occupied. We have five blocks with 2,300 residential and they are all fully sold. The Damansara Performing Art Centre is also open. We feel there is a need to build the roads, in anticipation of higher working population and residents in Empire City,” added Cheah.