Happy Garden

Happy Garden is a township near Kuchai Lama, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Nearby housing areas include Taman United and Taman OUG. It is an established housing estate that has been around for quite a while now, and has several types of houses placed within its neighborhood. 99% of its residents are Chinese.

There are a few condominiums at Happy Garden, namely Continental Heights, Desa Gembira, Meadow park and one of the latest luxury condo development:G Residence. There are also apartments to be found here, such as Gembira Park partments. Apart from that, one can also find bungalows, terrace houses and semi-detached houses in this neighborhood.

Happy Garden is an easy access from a few major highways, for example Jalan Klang Lama, the Sungai Besi Expressway, the Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Expressway, New Pantai Expressway or NPE and the recently built KL-Putrajaya Expressway (Maju Expressway). Getting around is pretty easy because of the frequency of public transports that pass through are high.

There are several shopping malls nearby, like Plaza OUG (which houses brands like Parkson and Giant), Central Supermarket, Pearl Point Mall , Carrefour and The Store. For those who want to venture out further, Mid Valley Megamall in Mid Valley City is a 5 minute drive away, through Old Klang Road.

Happy Garden is one of those places where everyone knows where it is – if not by name then definitely by the places (i.e. restaurants) that it has – if only because it’s been around for a very long time (20–30 years).

Residents here can enjoy having everything within reach. They have shopping complexes and hypermarkets nearby, there are food courts and restaurants (good ones, too) within the neighborhood, and residents also enjoy a weekly night market that goes on every Sunday. For those who like to procure their kitchen ingredients fresh daily, it is fortunate because there is a wet market that goes on every day.

Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park – which neighbours Happy Garden – offers more shops for its residents to patron. More restaurants, sundry shops, banks and various other facilities for the convenience of people around.

History of Happy Garden

BACK in 1963, in newly independent Malaysia, a couple of enterprising friends set about developing a small piece of land in Kuala Lumpur. They had an initial capital of RM3 million from their prior business ventures. That was enough money to buy a bank at that time, some say, but they chose to buy landbank instead and build single-storey terrace houses. Through the years, their company grew, and their small plot of land expanded into a housing estate. `What shall we call it?' they must have wondered. A name simple enough to remember, yet deep enough to encompass their hopes and dreams for the future. And so, they named it `Happy Garden'.

Four decades on, Happy Garden is one of the most established and mature neighbourhoods, located off Jalan Klang Lama, Kuala Lumpur. A big portion of the area, some 162 hectares, was developed by Sim Nam Housing Development Co Sdn Bhd. Most of the company's pioneers have passed on, including the late Tay Chwee Lye and the late Datuk Abu Mansor Hassan, who joined the company in 1975. One of them, Low Kiok Boon, 83, continues to sit on the current board. However, today, the reins of the company are in the hands of the second generation of the three principal families.

Low's family is represented by his sons - Lau Chung Su, Low Chung Hai and Lau Chong Tong. Tay's family is represented by his sons - Tay Peng Loong, Tay Peng Peow, Tay Peng Hwee - and nephew, Tay Pheng Leong, while Abu Mansor's chairman position is filled by his son, Datuk Dr Bahari DatukAbu Mansor. Datuk Abdul Hamid Mohd Zainuddin is also a board director,since 1980.

Taman Gembira sits on former rubber estates. Unlike other estates in, say, Petaling Jaya, that were single titled and more organised, this area was fragmented in numerous 0.81-hectare (two-acre) lots, which suited the company's development strategy.

`The founders started in this area and just carried on buying and building, slowly accumulating land,' Lau Chung Su, Sim Nam's executive director, tells Housing & Property. `Perhaps their vision of the future of the company is where we are today.'

To date, Sim Nam has built more than 4,000 units of houses, flats and shops in Taman Gembira. It current undeveloped landbank totals 36.45 hectares. The company had parcels of land in areas outside Kuala Lumpur, such as Seremban, Singapore and Malacca, but in the course of the years, these were sold off as the developer wanted to concentrate on its flagship project in Taman Gembira.

Later this month, the company has plans to launch its latest phase (Phase 11A) - 72 units of double-storey terrace houses. `We've obtained all our approvals and are ready to go,' Lau says. The houses are priced from RM448,800 to RM736,200, with built-ups ranging from 1,765 to 3,746 sq ft.

`The development is quite good, but it's a little pricey,' notes James KM Tan, associate director of Raine & Horne International Zaki Partners. The average market values for double-storey terrace houses in Bandar Utama and Taman Tun Dr Ismail, for example, are about RM450,000 and RM500,000, respectively.

However, Lau says, `Our prices are still marginally lower than Petaling Jaya, and our finishing standards are very good compared to the industry level.'

Houses in this phase will come equipped with three-phase wiring, auto gate point, air-conditioner points, plaster ceiling, solid doors, powder- coated aluminium framed windows with grey-tinted glass, and an extended and tiled backyard.

`Traditionally, the demand in that area is good,' says Anthony Chua, director of KGV-Lambert Smith Hampton. Although the price is high, he points out that similarly priced housing projects in Sri Petaling on leasehold land have also been sold out.

The same can be said of Sim Nam's 68 units of two and two-and-a- half- storey terrace houses, launched in mid-2002. Priced between RM398,800 and RM674,800, with built-up areas from 1,800 to 2,200 sq ft, all but one house has been sold. The houses are expected to be completed by end-2003, and homeowners can expect to move in early next year.

`We find a lot of our buyers are repeat buyers or the next generation of previous buyers,' says Lau. Many residents have stayed in Taman Gembira for 20 to 30 years. `Taman Gembira is a community in itself; the new generation grow up, buy houses and stay here. Sometimes buyers come up to me and tell me that they bought a house from my father years ago.'

Although the housing estate is about 40 years old, new developments in the vicinity have improved accessibility. One can reach Taman Gembira via several routes, including the KL-Seremban Highway, the Kesas Highway, the Puchong-Sg Besi Highway and the Federal Highway.

`In the newer developed areas of Taman Gembira, the layout looks better,' says Chua. `The roads are wider, with 66-foot wide main roads.' The neighbourhood has schools, a town centre, and shopping centres nearby, situated in an open, green environment.

Over the years, Sim Nam has had its share of ups and downs. As property is a cyclical business, it is hardest hit during recessions, and thus far, Sim Nam has been through two. `During the 1980s recession, we were launching only 15 units a year,' says Lau. `When the economy picked up again, we were selling 15 units a month; that's when you know everything's back in order.'

But the biggest challenge came during the 1997 financial crisis. `That time was difficult, not just for us but across the board,' Lau says. At the time, the company was developing Taman Midah Ria in Cheras, via a 70%- held subsidiary, Cheras Land Sdn Bhd. The project consisted of 288 condo units and 336 units of low-cost houses.

`To get the project moving, we had to price the houses lower to sell,' says Lau. `For the whole project, we only managed to break even. But over the years, the overhead costs began to pile up. We had to borrow money and were landed with a RM15 million debt.'

As the economy improved, though, the company was able to clear its debts by end-2002, with carefully planned launches and sale of assets. In 1999, Sim Nam launched 55 units of terrace houses in Taman Gembira. That launch, together with the 68 units last year, coincided with increased demand for landed property over the years. `We also sold 2.7 hectares of land in Cheras for RM12 million,' he adds.

Sim Nam's remaining landbank in Taman Gembira is expected to last the company another 10 years. Looking ahead, the company may have to venture beyond its comfort zone. `To continue building, chances are we have to move out of Taman Gembira,' says Lau. `We don't know yet where we'd go. We'll have to see what comes along, but we'll probably stay in Kuala Lumpur.'

Wherever it goes, the company will continue using the same buy- and-build strategy it used with Taman Gembira. `The fragmented estate (in Taman Gembira) suited our low-capital approach, where we can go on acquiring small plots of land without huge capital upfront,' Lau says. `If we go out, we don't have the capital to buy large tracts of land in one go; pockets of development will be our strategy.'

Having `inherited' Sim Nam from their fathers, the second generation of developers has the task of bringing the company to greater heights. A typical family business, though, has its share of problems, especially when the second and third generation takes over and family squabbles overshadow the company's growth. With Sim Nam, there is not just one but three families involved, but this does not seem to get in the way of good working relationships and the company's progress.

`Whether it is a family business or not, differences of opinion in any organisation is not unusual,' says Lau, who is an engineer by training and the third child in his family.

`Our working relationship now is much closer, and we just carry on with the interest of the company at heart. The main aim is the bottom line; everyone wants to see the company profitable.' Bahari, 55, agrees. `Perhaps because we are of the same age group, we fit together well,' he says. `In the past financial year, the company declared a 10% dividend, and we expect the same for the current financial year. We're concerned about the company doing well. We give our opinions, but in the end, we're together for the company.'

What the future holds in store for Sim Nam, no one really knows, but one hopes it ends with a `happy ever after ... `.