Sunway Velocity brings elegant shopping experience to the mature neighbourhood.

Artist’s impression of Sunway Velocity Mall.

By Lee Yan Li

REPORTS of a glut of retail space in the Klang Valley, particularly in Kuala Lumpur city area, may be a source of concern for some. However, for residents and business operators of bustling yet long ignored neighbourhoods, this may be a blessing in disguise as more megamall developers are diverting their focus from the city centre.

Sunway Velocity Mall, the first shopping mall with a one-million sq ft net lettable area (NLA) to serve the densely populated Cheras population, will change the face of retail business in the Cheras area when it opens on Dec 8. With over 100 “taman” in Cheras, the mall will reside within a catchment of 1.72 million people within a 20-minute drive radius.

“If you look at Cheras today, there is a void of a world-class mall offering one million sq ft, carefully planned integrated developments and a mass cluster of retail brands in fashion, leisure and entertainment as well as food and beverage,” said Sunway Malls and Theme Parks chief executive officer H.C. Chan in an interview.

Citing Jones Lang Wootton retail property research, which estimated a figure of 4.5 sq ft retail space per capita, Chan said Cheras has a largely affluent and urbane population, which is underserved.

“The intent of building Sunway Velocity mall is to fill the latent demand in Cheras and elevate the retail scene and experiences for the consumers,” said Chan.

Chan said weak consumer sentiments, lower tourist arrival, macroeconomic pressures, retail space oversupply are among the factors which have led to a competitive mall rental market, and suggested that some form of control is needed to address the oversupply situation.

“The malls have to move from quantity to quality. If the real differentiation between malls is not established, crowding out will happen,” he said.

Sunway Malls and Theme Parks chief executive officer H. C. Chan.

“There is a good balance of trade mix with fashion (26%), F&B (25%) entertainment (7%) and departmental store (22%), which will predominantly serve the middle- to upper-middle class markets.

“Both F&B and entertainment are strategic elements in our retail planning besides harnessing the social aspect of the mall to give it an edge. For example, there will be a themed food precinct that celebrates the vibrant local food culture,” said Chan.
The mall will have seven levels and four precincts, namely Market Place, Vanity Hall, Food Street Food and the Balcony.

Sunway Velocity Mall has 12 key tenants consisting of anchors and mini anchors that will occupy 40% of NLA, including Parkson, TGV Cinemas and Aeon MaxValu Prime as the three main anchors. Moviegoers are in for a treat as the cinema will have the biggest IMAX screen in peninsular Malaysia.

The mall will be the first in Malaysia to host Aeon MaxValu Prime, a new concept store by Aeon that emphasises quality living goods from different countries, especially Japanese-made products. Globally, Aeon MaxValu Prime can only be found in Japan and Hong Kong.

One of the highlighted tenants include CHi-X Fitness, a sister brand to existing CHi Fitness, a leading home-grown fitness chain in Malaysia. It will be the third Chi-X Fitness Club in the country.

The other key tenants include Grand Imperial, Uniqlo, Harvey Norman, Padini Concept Store, Popular Bookstore, Home's Harmony, Toys 'R' Us, and JD Sports.

Being the fifth mall that is developed by Sunway, Sunway Velocity Mall draws on the strength and success from its past experience to enhance the concept of the mall, including Sunway’s reputed integrated development strategy.

“Besides the shops, the mall is also conceived as an urban sanctuary for people seeking respite. Cheras is infamous for its traffic jams and difficulty in finding car parks, while there is little green space and accessible pedestrian walkways.

“Hence, we are creating a world of contrast with Sunway Velocity Mall. Within the Velocity development, there will be a two-acre park linked to the mall, an elevated deck lined with greenery and three levels of basement parking with approximately 6,500 parking bays,” said Chan.

As online shopping and social media experience have become part of retail experience, Chan said Sunway is also capturing the trend by offering the best of both worlds.
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“We are planning to offer services in which customers can buy online and collect goods at the outlet in the mall. Customers will be able to spend some leisurely time here while collecting the goods hassle free,” he added.

Sunway Velocity Mall is part of a 23-acre integrated development that combines residential, commercial, healthcare and retail component located in Jalan Cheras.

The development has a wide range of networks, including Jalan Cheras, Jalan Loke Yew, Jalan Pudu and Jalan Tun Razak. It is easily accessible via Smart highway, KL-Seremban highway, New Pantai Expressway (NPE) and Maju Expressway.

It is within walking distance from Ikea Cheras and is well served by the Maluri LRT interchange station and the upcoming Cochrane and Maluri MRT stations.

The article is first published in StarProperty.my pullout on Nov 2. Download StarProperty.my e-Mag(bit.ly/StarProperty_Emag) to read more.