Pavilion project bucks trend in Malaysian realty

About 70 per cent of the just unveiled Pavilion Damansara Heights have been sold
The 16-acre project, known as Pavilion Damansara Heights, will have a total of 10 office blocks, of which eight are en bloc sales, and two on strata basis. Seven of the en bloc sales have already been formally acquired.
The highest block of between 40 and 50 storeys is currently under negotiation, 1 Pavilion Property Consultancy Sales and Marketing Director Datuk Tracey Lai said.
She was speaking to reporters after the project was unveiled by Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Utama Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.
The development is part of the larger Pusat Bandar Damansara (PBD), which has a 46-acre foot print which the Pavilion Group shares with a couple of other developers.
Lai attributed the interest generated so far to the strong Pavilion brand, the Damansara Heights address and its connectivity. The redeveloped PBD will be served by two MRT stations.
The mixed integrated development will also have about 1,300 residential units, with sizes ranging from 600 sq ft to 2,800 sq ft.
Lai said the interest so far for its residential blocks has been in the larger units, which again bucks the trend because other developers have reported interest in smaller units of about 1,000 sq ft and below.
Prices average about 1,800 ringgit per sq ft and close to 2,500 people have registered their interest, Lai said.
The Pavilion Group will also have retail space of 1.17 million sq ft, split between a five- and seven-storey development which will be seamlessly connected. 
The retail mall will also be connected to the PBD MRT station.
The retail mall, nine out of 10 office blocks and the majority of the residential units are expected to be completed in stages by |2022.
Retail queen Datuk Joyce Yap, the CEO of Kuala Lumpur Pavilion, said the mall will be “a destination” in itself. 
While Yap aims to replicate the success of KL Pavilion, one of the top two retail malls in the city, the new mall in Pavilion Damansara Heights will have a different focus, with a larger emphasis on dining, entertainment, services and other new concepts.
Unveiling the development, which will have a gross development value of 9 billion ringgit, Tengku Adnan acknowledged the concerns of residents about the possible congestion due to the massive redevelopment in the area. 
To overcome that, he said the developer would be building a new highway which will stretch between Section 16, Petaling Jaya and Jalan Semantan at a cost of about 200 million ringgit.