Sunway City to focus on commercial, retail properties

By Sharen Kaur
Published in NST on April 12 2010

SUNWAY City Bhd (6289) plans to focus on building retail and commercial properties and luxury homes at its multi-billion-ringgit Sunway Integrated Resort City (SIRC) in Bandar Sunway, Selangor.


Managing director, property investment, Ngeow Voon Yean said there is lack of retail and commercial products at SIRC to attract multinational companies (MNCs).

SIRC, which started some 15 years ago, has two operating hotels, shopping malls and universities, Sunway Medical Centre, condominiums and villas, convention centres, shopoffices and a theme park.

There is Menara Sunway, the only office tower in the township and occupied by Sunway Group.

"We have MNCs keen to set up shop here because of the infrastructure and location. We are planning two 30-storey green office towers and will start building in the second half of this year," Ngeow said.

Ngeow said the first tower, with 277,000 sq ft of net lettable area, will be built next to Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa and linked to Sunway Pyramid Mall. The second tower, with 550,000 of net lettable area, will be built next to Menara Sunway.

He said SunCity will spend RM400 million to build the towers, which may be leased, sold via en bloc or injected into a real estate investment trust (REIT).

"We are optimistic SunCity's property investment division will continue to do well this year. We are looking forward to more excitements as we are in the process of unlocking the value of selected real estate properties for the REIT," he said in an interview with Business Times in Bandar Sunway.

SunCity recently said it plans to sell its stakes in Sunway Pyramid Mall, Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa, Pyramid Tower hotel, Menara Sunway, Sunway Carnival mall, Sunway Hotel Seberang Jaya, SunCity Ipoh hypermarket and Sunway Tower to a REIT.

The REIT, which may be worth around RM3 billion, is schedule to be launched later this year.

Currently, SunCity's investment division owns and manages RM4.7 billion worth of assets, including Sunway Giza, Sunway University College and Monash University Sunway Campus.

Ongoing construction at SIRC is Sunway-Monash U Residence, which is being built for RM170 million, for students at the two universities.

According to Ngeow, SunCity's investment in SIRC will reach RM5 billion by the time it is fully developed within the next five years or so.

-ENDS-