Forget the land and live by the sea

By I. Christianto

JAKARTA (JP): Park your car in the front porch and your boat in the back yard. Are you out of your mind?

No. Not if you are flushed with cash, as you can be one of the proud owners of a property in the waterfront area.

There are indications that demand for waterfront properties are increasing, according to two major property developers who deal with marina projects in North Jakarta.

"Despite the ongoing monetary and political crisis, the demand for properties at our waterfront project is very good," said Mudjianto, PT Dharmala Intiland's general manager for marketing.

Dharmala is developing Pantai Mutiara, a waterfront residential area in Muara Karang, Pluit, under its subsidiary PT Taman Harapan Indah.

When completed, Pantai Mutiara will include houses (including townhouses), apartments, a sport club, a club house and a commercial area.

Dharmala's general manager for planning and monitoring Chandra M. Makmoen said Pantai Mutiara covered some 100 hectares of land area. He said it would be some 150 hectares including the waters.

"The project began in 1989 with swamp reclamation. The reclamation of 39 hectares of the area was completed in 1998," he said, adding that the reclamation project involved Obayashi of Japan.

"We are now constructing the apartment complex which will include four 24-story towers. The first two towers are scheduled for completion in late next year, while the remaining, the following year," he said.

According to Mudjianto, marketing for both of the apartment units and the housing complex has been launched and the response so far has been good.

Mudjianto said the demand for properties here remained high although the land price has increased 10 times. "It was about Rp 700,000 per square meter in 1991. Now it cost Rp 7 million per square meter."

He said the plot sizes range between 200 square meters and 2,000 square meters.

"Out of some 800 units, about 98 percent has been sold out. The sizes of the remaining plots are between 600 square meters and 2,000 square meters," he said.

Ancol

PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol, which is developing Puri Marina, has also received favorable response for its waterfront properties.

"The demand is high. It's beyond our expectation. So far 90 percent has been sold," said promotion manager Maruli Sitorus.

He said the landed houses at Puri Marina was located in a 60- hectare plot, consisting of 68 lots.

"The lots are 250, 350, 700 and 1,000 square meters in size. They cost Rp 3.5 million per square meter," he said.

He said there were generally two types of property buyers; those who wanted to live in the property and those who wanted to use it as an investment.

"At Puri Marina, buyers are required to construct their houses within three years. The houses are to be designed in the Mediterranean style," he said.

The townhouses was launched early this month and have received a good response, he said.

"A total of 36 units in the first phase has been sold out. We will offer 55 units and 70 units in the second and third phases by June and early next year, respectively," he said.

There are three models of townhouses, namely Miami Beach (78.9 square meters/ Rp 600 million), Casa California (134.97 square meters/ Rp 800 million) and Latino Grande (83.59 square-meters/ Rp 1.3 billion).

PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol, which is part of the Si Pengembang Group, focuses on recreational, resort and property development.

Compared to Pantai Mutiara, Puri Marina's advantage is that it is exclusive and not too big an area.

About 80 percent of the lots sold here has already been developed by the owners, said Maruli.

Buyers

Interestingly, both Pantai Mutiara and Puri Marina handle their own marketing and promotional programs, instead of assigning them to property consultants.

Executives of two leading property consultants, Procon Indah/Jones Lang Lasalle and Collier Jardine, admitted that following the financial turmoil in Indonesia, the property market had become sluggish and that they had not focused on marinas.

Many property consultants believe that in spite of some signs of recovery during 2000, except for the retail sector, property sectors will remain depressed this year.

Office building and apartment leasing are expected to remain low due to the continuing political and economical uncertainties in the country.

And who are the buyers?

Maruli said most of the buyers at Puri Marina were professionals and businessmen.

"When buying property, location and accessibility are the main considerations. Puri Marina is about 10 minutes from the airport, 10 minutes from the Mangga Dua retail center and it is close to the seaport. These are among the important places for our target market," he said.

Mudjianto agreed that location was important.

"It's also important to notice that waterfront housing attracts those who are fond of the sea. But who doesn't like to enjoy the view of the sea, to see sunrises and sunsets, or have fresh air?" he said.

Developing a housing complex by the sea is probably not a new idea. However, Dharmala claims that Pantai Mutiara is the first project of its kind in Southeast Asia.

"This is a rare and unique concept. When Dharmala's founder, Hendro (Santoso Gondokusumo) introduced the idea in the 1980's, many people thought it was unrealistic. But the project went on. I think it's not feasible to have such as a project nowadays as it needs high technology and is very expensive."

The concept of living by the waterfront will help reestablishing Indonesia as a maritime nation.