Being built by Singapore-listed Capital City Group, Johor Baru’s largest mall Capital 21 will have a gross floor area of 1 million sqft (92,903 sqm) when it opens early next year.
The mall will be part of Project Capital City, which includes a hotel and residential component. More than 60 per cent of the retail units have been sold.
Capital City CEO Siow Chien Fu says he is bullish about prospects. “Johor Baru is the second-largest city in Malaysia and it still lacks this type of large shopping centre.”
Capital City will have 690 serviced apartments and 630 hotel-style serviced suites.
While the serviced suites have not been launched, 28.6 per cent of the units have been sold.
“People have been talking about an oversupply of housing in Kuala Lumpur for years, but there has still been good take-up. I’m not worried. Johor Baru is big enough and the state is doing a lot of development, like industrial parks,” says Siow.
Capital City is the company’s first development and veteran architect-turned-developer Siow is confident of its asset-light business strategy. Unlike traditional property developers, Capital World will not own land. Instead, it works with landowners in joint ventures to develop assets.
Its pipeline of projects includes another integrated development of retail, office, hotel and residential apartments in Johor Baru.
