Lippo to spend $1.2 billion on massive property project

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta   |  Fri, 04/04/2008 1:18 AM  

The country's largest integrated property developer, Lippo Group, plans to build a residential project worth US$1.2 billion in the Puri Indah Central Business District, Jakarta. 

Late last year, Lippo launched Kemang Village, an integrated city project in South Jakarta worth $880 million. 

The housing project, St. Moritz Penthouses and Residences, will be built on 120,000 square meters of land with eight boundaries stretching approximately 2.5 kilometers. 

The firm said the project would also include the erection of "Jakarta's tallest office building with 65 stories, which will be reserved for Top 500 Fortune Companies". 

"The project development will be divided into three phases, with the first stage to include the development of the first three apartment towers and shopping malls," Lippo corporate communications manager Danang Kemayan Jati said Thursday. 

He said the first phase would commence in the third quarter of 2008 for completion by 2010. The other residential towers and the main facilities are scheduled for completion by the second quarter of 2011. 

"We will build 2,600 residential units and expect to have at least 13,000 people living in this new township," Lippo director Michael Riady told reporters at the press conference. 

The township will be equipped with upmarket infrastructure such as tap water facilities and a wastewater recycling system. 

Other facilities will include shopping malls, an international standard hospital, an international school, a country club, a five-star hotel managed by The Aryaduta, a spa, cinema and fitness center, a wedding chapel, a heliport and a 6,000 square meter convention center. 

According to the director, Lippo is financing 100 percent of this mega-construction with internal funding and presales income. 

Michael said the project had a good prospects because about 45 percent of medium- to high-income young professional Indonesians prefer to live in apartments for efficiency. 

He said people from the upper classes preferred to live in the middle of the town, to get everything they needed in one location and to avoid traffic jams. 

The location is a valuable benefit of the construction, because it is on the intersection of Jakarta Ring Road, which will allow residents to commute easily in four directions on the freeways, he said. 

Michael also said future business centers would spread throughout all of Jakarta and would not be located only in the city center. 

According to Danang, Lippo will start preselling the apartments and penthouses next week. 

"We are optimistic about selling between 80 and 90 percent of the residential units in the first three towers this year," he told The Jakarta Post. 

Prices for the units range from $90,000 for a two-bedroom suite to more than $300,000 for a five-bedroom one. The limited and exclusive St. Moritz Penthouses will carry a price tag of more than $1 million for the best views and up to eight bedrooms. 

The first tower, the St. Moritz, will have only four units per floor equipped with private elevators. The second tower, the St. Tropez, which will be beside the five-star hotel, will have only six units per floor. The third tower, the Monaco, which is across from the school, will be suitable for families.(rff)