Luxury apartment business more promising

Luxury apartment business more promising

JAKARTA (JP): A foreign executive in the hospitality business
from Singapore said that the future of the luxury apartment
business in Jakarta is more promising than ever.

"We did very extensive research before starting to build such
apartments here and believe that this country's economic growth
rate will create the market," said Annabella Wisniewski, the
Director of the Hospitality Division of Scotts Holding Limited,
yesterday

Scotts Holding Limited with two other companies, the ASEAN
Strategic Capital Limited, a Singapore investment company and PT
Menara Duta of the Tigaraksa Group, have established a joint
venture company, PT Bumi Perkasa Andhika, to build The Ascott
Jakarta, a posh apartment tower near Hotel Wisata on Jl. Kebon
Kacang, Central Jakarta.

The Ascott Jakarta apartment project, which is designed to
have 198 units of serviced apartments and 78 condominiums, is
scheduled to be completed next February.

Annabella said the company was aware that the occupancy rate
of luxuriously serviced apartments in Jakarta is quite high.

"We have set a new standard of a serviced apartments all over
the world. We build a home for the tenants and serve them with
facilities and services of a five-star hotel," Wisniewski said.

She said that in order to help the tenants, especially the
foreign expatriates, adapt to their new city, the company will
employ what it calls guest officers.

"They will inform foreign tenants where to shop and where to
find schools for their children," Wisniewski said.

Wisniewski said that one of the many advantages offered by the
Ascott is the free breakfast served everyday downstairs.

Wadia Parkash, the General Manager of The Ascott Jakarta, said
that the company will not charge the tenants for electricity or
water.

The rent prices of the units range from US$2,900 to $16,000
per month while the prices of the condos range from $2,200 per
square meter to $2,650 per square meter.

Parkash said that The Ascott Jakarta has invested almost $95
million in the project.

The shares of Ascott Jakarta are 52.5 percent owned by PT
Menara Duta, 28.5 percent by the Scotts Holdings Ltd. and 19
percent by ASEAN Strategic Capital Limited.

The architecture of the apartment was designed by the
Australian born Kerry Hill and the interior design is being
handled by Hirsch-Bedner, a Singaporean-based international
design firm specializing in hospitality projects. (mas)