Nusmetro targets RM1b lock-in sales

NUSMETRO Group is targeting RM1 billion worth of lock-in sales by the third quarter of this year.

Its managing director Thomas Chan said the targeted sales would be made through its four Arte series projects in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

He said the two ongoing projects in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur - Arte @Subang West and Arte @Kuchai Lama - are already sold out.

The latest introduction in the series, Arte S in Bukit Gambir here, has already sold 40 per cent of its 400 condominium units, Chan said, with another 30 per cent sales targeted within the month.

"We would have sold 70 per cent of the Arte S units here by next month ... and we managed to sell 40 per cent during Chinese New Year in February.

"We hope to reach the RM1 billion sales target. 

"I do not think many developers have managed to do so, unlike the big players like SP Setia," he said at the official launch of the Arte S project last Saturday.

Arte S, a project of about RM430 million in gross development value (GDV), is the property developer's first Arte series project in the nor-thern region. Construction is expected to begin next month and be completed by the end of 2016.

The project features two condominium towers of spiralling architectural lines; iconic indoor and outdoor pods that house a three-storey entertainment lounge; a garden with hanging cocoons; a gym; and a multi-layered pool.

The project is designed by Spark, the internationally-acclaimed London-based architecture and ur-ban design firm, which also designed Singapore's Clark Quay and the Shanghai Cruise Terminal in China.

Chan said Spark's design for Arte S has been shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival (WAF) 2013 in Singapore this October under the Future Projects Award.

"Spark has also worked on designing many other projects, but it chose Arte S to enter the competition at the world's largest architectural festival this year," he said.

Chan said Nusmetro did not previously develop projects in series until it introduced the Arte series two years ago.

"We never had that kind of branding but this is something we need to do to develop projects for a niche market," he said.

Projects in the Arte series, he explained, evolved around the art subject and sought to give a different definition to lifestyle living.

"When people look at the projects, and how they are designed externally and internally, what they think about them is subjective.

"However, our Arte series projects have received encouraging market endorsement," he said.

Nusmetro's fourth Arte project, named Arte+, is a mixed-development project with small-office home-office suites off Jalan Ampang in Kuala Lumpur.

Chan said the project will be officially launched to the public in November or December this year, after it is unveiled to the company's partners in September. - Business Times