DATIN Dian Lee is
clearly the meticulous sort.
Before settling down for a chat with StarBizWeek at the show house for Dream City, she shoots a quick question to her staff to enquire if the water feature outside is switched on.
In the tastefully decked out show unit, Lee fusses about with a piece of artificial cheese at the dinner table, which she has taken the trouble to make like the genuine article, replete with wine bottles.
One thing she did forget was the pair of blue Ray-Ban sunglasses propped on her head, a slip-up she would later fret about in mock displeasure.
But this is a minor quibble. The eldest daughter of the Country Heights Group and Mines Resort City magnate Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew has bigger things on her mind, like the launch of phase 2 of Dream City,the Clearwater Group’s third property and its first high rise.
The Seri Kembangan development was named after her daughter Jora Dream, although Lee had originally thought to call it Cloud City, in tribute to Bespin’s floating city in Star Wars.
Lee says her husband, private equity investor Datuk Jared Lim, is a huge fan of the movie series. Their youngest son, not coincidentally, is named Jedi.
Seven appears to be an auspicious number for Dream City. It sits on 7.5 acres of land and boasts seven towers overlooking a pristine former mining lake, which are linked on the 7th floor by a 90,000 sq ft “skypark”.
Modelled after the curvature of limestone hills, Dream City has a total of 812 units, almost 400 of them in the one-bedroom category with built-ups of 550 sq ft.
Its penthouse suites top out at 2,560 sq ft, while the two- and three-bedroom units have a minimum size of 1,100 sq ft. Dream City’s tallest block stands at 28 storeys and the shortest at 14 storeys.
The RM400mil gross development value Dream City is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2017. The land has a leasehold tenure of 99 years.
Phase 1 was sold at an average of RM570 per sq ft, with prices starting at RM530 per sq ft, or RM330,000.
Lee says the pricing for phase 2 is yet to be finalised, but it will probably cost more given proposed upgrades such as air-conditioning, kitchen and sanitary ware.
Dream City’ award-winning design is a key selling point. Its 7th floor skypark features three types of gardens, three infinity pools, a jogging path, yoga pavilion and tennis courts.
Lee also plans to put in some retail or F&B elements, although this will be kept to a minimum so as not to overshadow the retail options already available at the nearby Mines Shopping Fair.
“My architect and partner Boon (Sim Boon Yang, founder and partner of Eco-ID) and I agreed that we wanted to keep the boutique feel of Dream City,” she quips.
“We could have maxed it out by building as many levels as possible, but that would have eroded its exclusivity.”
The concrete retention wall across from Dream City, which holds up a public school, won’t obstruct views as the carpark occupies levels 1 through to 7, Lee says. The residences will be constructed above.
“Dream City is not a big piece of land, but it has this beautiful view,” she enthuses. “It’s rare to find a 51-acre lake that’s 20 minutes from the city centre.”
One customer from Singapore booked a penthouse over the phone. “I told him the price and he said, ‘Ok, done’,” she shares. The penthouses, of which there are only 11, have been transacted for as high as RM1.6mil.
The Clearwater Group was formed in 2005 as a niche property developer by Lee, her husband and a group of investors. She didn’t take any seed capital from her father.
The small-sized developer started out with its namesake RM140mil, 18-storey Clearwater Residences on the edge of Pusat Bandar Damansara. This was followed by Blu constellation, a cluster of 108 triple-storey link homes in Bluwater Estate.
Lee was only 21 when she got the business going. But a greenhorn she was not.
During her time in Australia Lee helped manage her father’s property dealings in New South Wales, where he owned an empty piece of land the size of Singapore.
“We were trying to convert it into a golf resort from a farmland,” she recalls. “The property business is challenging everywhere. After I left the person who took over needed a few years to complete the conversion.
“There was a lot of red tape, and even protests from local communities. In some ways it is more difficult in Australia.”
While Lee is no longer involved in that project, she says it might eventually be part golf course, part resort and part truffle farm.
“We were so excited when we heard that the northern side might have gold reserves. All these geological studies were done, but no gold,” Lee chuckles.
Free advice
The Clearwater Group had some years ago agreed to take the reins of My South Lake from Lee senior, his daughter explains. It was subsequently rebranded as the 250-acre Bluwater Estate, a green township.
Lee and her partners then decided not to hold on to that much land, which would have been more than they could chew as a boutique developer. Clearwater kept only two parcels for Dream City and Blu constellation, and returned the rest to Lee’s father.
The tycoon later sold 47 acres to Bandar Raya Developments Bhd (BRDB), which Lee feels is a good thing for Clearwater.
BRDB, best known for its high-end Bangsar properties, recently opened sales for Senja. The “private lakeside estate”, as it is touted, comprises 62 terraces, 24 semi-D, 26 villas and two bungalows, with rates of between RM3mil and RM7mil. Senja’s completion is scheduled for June 2016.
There are no plans on the table for Clearwater to acquire more land within Bluwater Estate, Lee says. Dream City and Blu constellation were developed under a joint-venture agreement with her father as the landowner.
Lee is visibly enthralled by her work, even if the self-confessed “food lover, gym junkie and fashion victim” has a great many other interests.
She posted on her Instagram account several weeks ago a black-and-white snap of Blu constellation with the caption: “Site visit … almost there!”
The image sits alongside stills from her recent holiday to Japan, a selfie of Lee in leopard-print gym wear, jelly mooncakes and other fine cuisines.
Lee can take some pride in the fact that Blu constellation has been fully sold and will be ready for handover by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Clearwater Residences, which retailed for RM660 per sq ft in 2007, last changed hands at about RM1,150 per sq ft.
Current projects aside, Lee says she would like to add to her landbank, preferably in the outskirts of the Klang Valley, where “we will have room to build a community”.
“We only work on one thing at a time,” Lee quips, conceding that Clearwater hasn’t identified another development.
Still, Lee is adamant on keeping Clearwater in private hands. Her father, she says, is hands-off when it comes to the business.
“He gives me free advice every now and then. It’s because of him that I’m comfortable doing this,” she says, adding that company matters are rarely dinnertime conversation.
What’s next for Clearwater? Bali, if Lee gets her way. The town of Ubud on the Indonesian island is one of her favourite destinations.
“In five years Ubud could well be the centre of wellness in the world, and none of the developers have ventured there in a big way.” Might Clearwater be the first?
Before settling down for a chat with StarBizWeek at the show house for Dream City, she shoots a quick question to her staff to enquire if the water feature outside is switched on.
In the tastefully decked out show unit, Lee fusses about with a piece of artificial cheese at the dinner table, which she has taken the trouble to make like the genuine article, replete with wine bottles.
One thing she did forget was the pair of blue Ray-Ban sunglasses propped on her head, a slip-up she would later fret about in mock displeasure.
But this is a minor quibble. The eldest daughter of the Country Heights Group and Mines Resort City magnate Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew has bigger things on her mind, like the launch of phase 2 of Dream City,the Clearwater Group’s third property and its first high rise.
The Seri Kembangan development was named after her daughter Jora Dream, although Lee had originally thought to call it Cloud City, in tribute to Bespin’s floating city in Star Wars.
Lee says her husband, private equity investor Datuk Jared Lim, is a huge fan of the movie series. Their youngest son, not coincidentally, is named Jedi.
Lakeside living
Spurred by the success of
Dream City’s first three blocks under phase 1, the Clearwater
Group plans to release the remaining four towers early next year. Phase 1
of the luxury lakeside residences is 75% sold to date, Lee says.Seven appears to be an auspicious number for Dream City. It sits on 7.5 acres of land and boasts seven towers overlooking a pristine former mining lake, which are linked on the 7th floor by a 90,000 sq ft “skypark”.
Modelled after the curvature of limestone hills, Dream City has a total of 812 units, almost 400 of them in the one-bedroom category with built-ups of 550 sq ft.
Its penthouse suites top out at 2,560 sq ft, while the two- and three-bedroom units have a minimum size of 1,100 sq ft. Dream City’s tallest block stands at 28 storeys and the shortest at 14 storeys.
The RM400mil gross development value Dream City is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2017. The land has a leasehold tenure of 99 years.
Phase 1 was sold at an average of RM570 per sq ft, with prices starting at RM530 per sq ft, or RM330,000.
Lee says the pricing for phase 2 is yet to be finalised, but it will probably cost more given proposed upgrades such as air-conditioning, kitchen and sanitary ware.
Dream City’ award-winning design is a key selling point. Its 7th floor skypark features three types of gardens, three infinity pools, a jogging path, yoga pavilion and tennis courts.
Lee also plans to put in some retail or F&B elements, although this will be kept to a minimum so as not to overshadow the retail options already available at the nearby Mines Shopping Fair.
“My architect and partner Boon (Sim Boon Yang, founder and partner of Eco-ID) and I agreed that we wanted to keep the boutique feel of Dream City,” she quips.
“We could have maxed it out by building as many levels as possible, but that would have eroded its exclusivity.”
The concrete retention wall across from Dream City, which holds up a public school, won’t obstruct views as the carpark occupies levels 1 through to 7, Lee says. The residences will be constructed above.
“Dream City is not a big piece of land, but it has this beautiful view,” she enthuses. “It’s rare to find a 51-acre lake that’s 20 minutes from the city centre.”
Striking gold
Dream City’s buyers were
mostly investors, according to Lee, with the client list spanning Malaysia,
Hong Kong and Singapore.One customer from Singapore booked a penthouse over the phone. “I told him the price and he said, ‘Ok, done’,” she shares. The penthouses, of which there are only 11, have been transacted for as high as RM1.6mil.
The Clearwater Group was formed in 2005 as a niche property developer by Lee, her husband and a group of investors. She didn’t take any seed capital from her father.
The small-sized developer started out with its namesake RM140mil, 18-storey Clearwater Residences on the edge of Pusat Bandar Damansara. This was followed by Blu constellation, a cluster of 108 triple-storey link homes in Bluwater Estate.
Lee was only 21 when she got the business going. But a greenhorn she was not.
During her time in Australia Lee helped manage her father’s property dealings in New South Wales, where he owned an empty piece of land the size of Singapore.
“We were trying to convert it into a golf resort from a farmland,” she recalls. “The property business is challenging everywhere. After I left the person who took over needed a few years to complete the conversion.
“There was a lot of red tape, and even protests from local communities. In some ways it is more difficult in Australia.”
While Lee is no longer involved in that project, she says it might eventually be part golf course, part resort and part truffle farm.
“We were so excited when we heard that the northern side might have gold reserves. All these geological studies were done, but no gold,” Lee chuckles.
Free advice
The Clearwater Group had some years ago agreed to take the reins of My South Lake from Lee senior, his daughter explains. It was subsequently rebranded as the 250-acre Bluwater Estate, a green township.
Lee and her partners then decided not to hold on to that much land, which would have been more than they could chew as a boutique developer. Clearwater kept only two parcels for Dream City and Blu constellation, and returned the rest to Lee’s father.
The tycoon later sold 47 acres to Bandar Raya Developments Bhd (BRDB), which Lee feels is a good thing for Clearwater.
BRDB, best known for its high-end Bangsar properties, recently opened sales for Senja. The “private lakeside estate”, as it is touted, comprises 62 terraces, 24 semi-D, 26 villas and two bungalows, with rates of between RM3mil and RM7mil. Senja’s completion is scheduled for June 2016.
There are no plans on the table for Clearwater to acquire more land within Bluwater Estate, Lee says. Dream City and Blu constellation were developed under a joint-venture agreement with her father as the landowner.
Lee is visibly enthralled by her work, even if the self-confessed “food lover, gym junkie and fashion victim” has a great many other interests.
She posted on her Instagram account several weeks ago a black-and-white snap of Blu constellation with the caption: “Site visit … almost there!”
The image sits alongside stills from her recent holiday to Japan, a selfie of Lee in leopard-print gym wear, jelly mooncakes and other fine cuisines.
Lee can take some pride in the fact that Blu constellation has been fully sold and will be ready for handover by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Clearwater Residences, which retailed for RM660 per sq ft in 2007, last changed hands at about RM1,150 per sq ft.
Current projects aside, Lee says she would like to add to her landbank, preferably in the outskirts of the Klang Valley, where “we will have room to build a community”.
“We only work on one thing at a time,” Lee quips, conceding that Clearwater hasn’t identified another development.
Still, Lee is adamant on keeping Clearwater in private hands. Her father, she says, is hands-off when it comes to the business.
“He gives me free advice every now and then. It’s because of him that I’m comfortable doing this,” she says, adding that company matters are rarely dinnertime conversation.
What’s next for Clearwater? Bali, if Lee gets her way. The town of Ubud on the Indonesian island is one of her favourite destinations.
“In five years Ubud could well be the centre of wellness in the world, and none of the developers have ventured there in a big way.” Might Clearwater be the first?
The
Star, 5/10/2013
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