Rs2.5bn Mulberry residence for young professionals

Dec 04, 2015 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Steradian Capital, a privately owned real estate development and consultancy business, unveiled plans for an apartment complex with an investment of 2.5 billion rupees targeting middle-income young professionals. “The vision for the project comes from our desire to improve the affordable and professional housing sector in Sri Lanka, as we have identified a need for it. Therefore, we always try to handpick land parcels in areas of high density where there is a need to serve and improve the lives of the local community,” Hardy Jamaldeen, a director of Steradian Capital said. “Young couples who have a joint income of 200,000 per month can afford to buy this apartment.” The unveiling ceremony was held at the Taj Samudra, Colombo on Thursday. Jamaldeen added that there is an oversupply in the luxury apartment segment in the country but less attention is given for developing products for the high-end middle class segment. “The activity is in the higher end of the market. In my view there is an oversupply of that stock. There might be investment groups that can buy these luxury apartments but they also have a limit to what they can accumulate. But if the economy kicks off and foreigners come in the situation may level out. Otherwise I have a feeling that there is going to be an issue in that segment of the market,” Jamaldeen said. “But where the lower end, there is not enough supply. The culture at the moment is bold young professionals. But they can’t afford to buy these luxury apartments and even to buy in from Colombo, so here this is an opportunity.” Located in Colombo 09, Mulberry Residence, is set to transform simplicity into quality and sustainability, the builders say. Consisting of three towers, each over 15 floors, the ground to 2^nd floors, consist of a connecting podium dedicated towards a reception and parking, along with 11 residential floors (3rd -13^th floor) and a roof top entertainment space, boasting two swimming pools, a gymnasium and children’s play area (14^th floor), is expected to be completed by the end of January 2018. The apartments range from 1,000 – 1,600 sq.ft, with a mixture of 2-3 bedrooms. The development of the apartment complex will be in collaboration with the Yanjian Group, one of the top 250 construction companies in the world who will take 24 months to complete. The apartment building includes facilities such as 24-hour CCTV camera surveillance to all its entrances and the car park, a rooftop entertainment space and landscaped garden with a walkway that includes children’s play area and two separate rooftop swimming pools and gymnasiums, exclusively for males and females with much respect given towards privacy. “Our main focus is Sri Lanka and we have in-depth knowledge and experience of the local market. Therefore we believe that there is a huge void in the market and less being done towards young professionals and aspiring families. We also believe that our project actually serves a purpose and has an end user, as we consider it a joint venture between the developer and purchaser,” said Archie Warman, a Director of Steradian Capital. Many banks namely, Pan Asia Bank, Sampath Bank, Commercial Bank, Bank of Ceylon and HNB have already come on board to extend their support for loan facilities at very attractive interest rates and several other major banks are expected to come on board in the near future. The company said about 30 units have been already booked since the project launched.