Apartments offer privacy, convenience and prestige

By Sugianto Tandra and Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): The city's population is growing but land availability for housing is shrinking because it is being allocated to develop office buildings and public facilities.

A lot of people are forced to buy a house in the outskirts of Jakarta or in the city's bufferzone areas, including Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi. However, over the past decade, there has been a growing trend to construct apartments and condominiums targeted toward the middle-upper class. They are built in the heart of the city and include sports facilities, various modern amenities and 24-hour security in their design.

Most people who live in apartments are young professionals or expatriates working here. One can get different answers from people as to why they choose to live in an apartment instead of a house, or the other way around.

Ruhut Sitompul, a lawyer, lives in Griya Pancoran Apartments on Jl. Raya Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, because he wants more privacy.

"When you live in a house, people tend to drop in just like that and you can't refuse them," Ruhut told The Jakarta Post.

"Here, people have to pass the apartment's security guards before they can meet you," he said.

Ruhut also owns a house in Kemang, South Jakarta, but he prefers living in the second-floor three-bedroom apartment, which he bought almost three years ago.

"People do not care what you do here," he said.

He also enjoys living in the apartment because the management provides 24-hour security and a satisfactory building-maintenance service. In addition, there is a coffee shop and a minimarket in the building, he said.

A swimming pool, a jogging track and a gymnasium are also available in the 17-story the apartment building.

"But there is one thing we can do in our homes that can't be done here," said Ruhut, who runs his law firm in the apartment building. "Here, we have to share the swimming pool and the gymnasium with the other tenants."

He spends about Rp 9 million (US$4,000) per month, which includes a trimonthly Rp 3 million maintenance fee. Ruhut is also the building's community chief secretary.

Clint Easthorpe, who works as a media advisor for the Bates Advertising agency, started living in an apartment nine months ago and what he likes best about living there is the convenience and the security.

Easthorpe, a 35-year-old single Englishman, rents a two- bedroom apartment on the ninth floor of the 10-story Brawijaya Apartment on Jl. Prapanca, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.

He lives alone but has a maid come in to do his washing and ironing and general cleaning.

"Here, there are things that you wouldn't get if you lived in a house," he said. "For instance, swimming pools, a gymnasium and a tennis court."

He said he paid the leasing rates of between $2,000 and $2,500 per month, which includes a maintenance fee.

Easthorpe, who lives in a country house in his hometown, said with that sum of money he could rent a spacious, nice house.

"But you have to budget for the maintenance of the house and the security as well. Also the swimming pool. It costs too much," he said.

The Brawijaya Apartment, completed in 1994, is close to the shopping centers of Blok M, Pasaraya, Kem Chicks and Cosmo Supermarket. It also provides a 24-hour clinic, a driving range and an international school.

Asked why he chose the ninth floor, Easthorpe said jokingly: "It's also much safer here, because no one's going to break in."

Easthorpe said that in general, he is satisfied with the apartment management services and is hoping to extend his lease for one more year.

The only complaint he has is that "it takes a little while to get things fixed here."

Easthorpe recalled that once the maintenance man came a week after he reported a breakdown of his water heater, which left him getting "a little shock with his shower" for sometime.

He shied away the notion that living in an apartment or a condominium could make one become more solitary, saying everyone in his apartment gets along well with each other.

"There's a quite friendly atmosphere here. You greet people in the morning when they are busy going to work, and when they get home late at night. At weekends you might see them at the pool."

Businessman Harry Goentoro has been living in the Cempaka Mas Apartments in Central Jakarta for almost three years.

"I bought this apartment in 1994 because it is close to my office. And you know, living here is bergengsi (prestigious)," he said.

"But I plan to rent it because I've found a nice house, which is also located in the heart of the city," he said.