Apartments offer friendly living too

Apartments offer friendly living too

T. Sima Gunawan, Contributor, Jakarta

A baby usually brings joy to the parents and makes the house
warm. As for Maya Carpenter, a resident of Four Seasons
Apartments in Jakarta, having a baby also means having new
friends.

"After I had my baby, I made new friends, as I often meet
other tenants when I take my baby to the swimming pool," Maya
said.

A swimming pool is among the facilities commonly found in an
apartment building that allow the tenants to socialize with each
other. They can also meet at the gym, in the coffee shop, at the
business center or at the mini market, which may also be found in
most upmarket apartments.

Maya said that living in an apartment is just as friendly as
living in an ordinary housing complex. "The residents in the
apartments are friendly and helpful. So I think there is no
problem with socialization," she added.

In the 1980s, there were only a few apartment buildings and
most of the tenants were expatriates. But today many Indonesians
also live in apartments. They enjoy the new lifestyle because it
offers comfort and they do not have to worry about the city's
high crime rate because most have 24-hour security systems.

In addition, some people prefer to live in an apartment
because it is located near their offices; they can save time and
energy as they don't have to experience terrible traffic jams as
much.

Some say that living in a house allows people to know the
neighbors better. They have more of a chance to see others, chit-
chat or just say hello, while those who live in an apartment
building may lead an exclusive life, barely socializing with the
others and tend to be individualists.

Such an idea, however, is not entirely true. People become
unsociable not because they live in an apartment. Snobbish
persons can be found everywhere, especially in a big bustling
city like Jakarta, where most residents are busy with their work
and must struggle to survive.

"The is a different attitude among the people. This happens
because of the changing culture," Ryan Adrian, General Manager of
PT Jakarta Setiabudi International Tbk, said.

People now enjoy practicality, and this is reflected in the
design of their place: living rooms become smaller and people no
longer consider a verandah as an important part of the house, he
explained.

His company is now constructing Setiabudi Residence in South
Jakarta. The construction began in January this year and is
scheduled to be completed in December 2006. There will be two
towers with a total of 300 units that cost between Rp 800 million
(about US$80,000) and Rp 4 billion each, and 80 percent of them
have been sold.

A sky lounge measuring about 1,000 square meters, located on
the top floor or the 28-story second tower will serve as a
meeting place for tenants.

There will also be other facilities, which they can share like
a gym, a sauna and a meeting room.

"We also plan to have a small garden, which consists of
various kinds of plants," Adrian said.

Merry Utami, General Manager of The Pearl, said that even
though people who live in an apartment might have a different way
of meeting others, this does not necessarily mean that they do
not socialize.

The Pearl, which is located on Jl. Gatot Subroto, is under
construction. The construction of the building, which will have
200 units, began in January 2005 also and will be completed in
August 2006. So far, half of the units have been sold.

It will have jogging tracks and other sports facilities, as
well as a playground and a laundry service, which allow the
tenants to meet each other.

"They can also have a garden party together," Merry said.

While such parties are usually held by the tenants themselves,
the apartment management company might organize it so that they
have the chance to get to know each other better, as is regularly
done by the company that manages the Garden Wing Apartments,
which is part of Hotel Borobudur.

Most of the tenants are expatriates, who stay for an average
of four or five years, Fika Kansil, a public relations manager
with the hotel, said. A program called the "long-stay guest
party" is often held for the tenants, who enthusiastically come
to enjoy themselves and meet others.

The number of high-rise apartment buildings here continues to
mushroom, not only in the center of the city but also in suburban
areas. There are more than 110 apartment buildings throughout
Jakarta at present.

People prefer to live in an apartment also because it allows
them to have their own privacy. That, however, might be
mistakenly taken as being individualist, according to Maya.

"This depends of the person. You can live in an apartment and
socialize a lot, but you can also live in a house and become an
unsociable,"," she said.

Maya, who used to live in the elite neighborhood of Jl.
Pakubuwono, South Jakarta, said that she has more friends now
compared to when she lived in a house.

"Frankly speaking, when I lived there, I didn't know my
neighbors. If we met, we would smile at each other, but that's
all," she said.

At the beginning, when she moved to the Four Seasons early in
2004, she did not know the other tenants. But she did not have
any problem as the staff were quite helpful and extended their
hospitality.

"Now we often invite each other over. On the 29th, we will
break the fast together at my place," she said, adding that
sometimes they had a party by the swimming pool.