KEPONG: UEM Sunrise Bhd is reviewing the masterplan for the Kiara Bay integrated township development in Kepong in light of the pandemic and market sentiments to ensure that it remains relevant and liveable in the years ahead.

Kiara Bay, a 72.73-acre township in Kepong, is the flagship township of UEM Sunrise, which is being developed in collaboration with Melati Ehsan Holdings Bhd.

The compay began the first phase of Kiara Bay in 2019 and will launch the second phase, Residensi ZIG, on September 16 of this year.

The township has 15 developable plots, but the developer is restructuring the development into 13 developable plots, which is currently being reviewed by authorities.

Mardiana Rahayu Tukiran, chief development officer at UEM Sunrise, said the original masterplan for Kiara Bay was conceived in 2019, prior to the pandemic.

She said the company must be agile and nimble, as well as understand changes in needs and demand four years later. "A good developer is the one who is always rethinking what they are doing and questioning themselves as to whether what they are doing is still relevant. And that has resulted in us wanting to do a full remasterplanning, understanding what we can or cannot cope with ourselves.

"That also might give an idea as to why there were some land sales that were involved," she said at Residensi ZIG's media preview on Tuesday at the Kiara Bay Sales Gallery here.

On Monday (Sept 11), UEM Sunrise's indirect unit Mega Legacy (M) Sdn Bhd (MLSB) announced the sale of a 4.01-acre parcel of land in Kiara Bay to Pembinaan Kery Sdn Bhd (PKSB), a unit of Melati Ehsan, for RM85 million.

Simultaneously, MLSB entered into a development rights agreement with PKSB to develop the land for at least RM93.5 million in development rights.

Kenny Wong, chief marketing officer of UEM Sunrise, said when the company first entered Kepong, it did so on a small scale.

"Now with four years of learning plus two good years of the pandemic, we felt that there were certain things about the entire development that could be replanned and reviewed. We are not waiting for five or 10 years down the road, we are actually taking pace now to review it as we go along," he said.

Residensi ZIG has 1,126 serviced apartment units in three blocks, ranging in size from 450 to 1,198 square feet and priced at RM340,888 or RM575 per square foot.

The RM646.2 million gross development value project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2027.

Residensi ZIG is a post-pandemic lifestyle facility with four facility zones: a celebration zone, a sweat zone, a home-work zone, and a leisure zone.

Certain walls within the units can be removed, demonstrating adaptive and flexible living to accommodate a variety of lifestyles. Some units include urban yards and balconies.

A 100-person capacity sky-dining hall, a co-living lounge, a sky barbecue area, badminton courts, a 50-metre lap pool, a playground, and a wellness corner with yoga decks, exercise stations, and hammocks are among the amenities. Residensi ZIG is UEM Sunrise's third project in the Klang Valley this year, following The Minh in Mont'Kiara and The Connaught One in Cheras.

UEM Sunrise's property sales for all ongoing projects have been encouraging.

According to Wong, the company exceeded its 2023 sales target of RM1.5 billion in August.