Award-winning Chiva-Som operator to manage wellness-based development in Iskandar

Eastern & Oriental Bhd (E&O) has picked the manager of the famed Thai luxury health resort Chiva-Som to run its RM3.5bil wellness-based development Avira in Iskandar Malaysia, said deputy managing director Eric Chan.

“We have signed them on for Avira and will announce the full details soon, including the concept,” he said after a shareholders’ meeting.

The award-winning Chiva-Som in Hua Hin province, which has played host to the Beckhams, is known among spa enthusiasts as one of the world’s top health resorts.

Avira – a joint venture between E&O, Khazanah Nasional Bhd and Singapore’s Temasek – is the Penang-based developer’s first project in Iskandar. It has a land size of 210 acres and fringes a natural mangrove forest.

Chan had previously told StarBiz that the development would contain a 12.5-acre wellness “core”, alongside residential and commercial properties. E&O intends to roll out Avira in the later part of the year.

Meanwhile, Chan said he could not divulge more information on the firm’s proposed Elmina West project until a sale and purchase agreement was firmed up.

E&O had inked a non-binding memorandum of agreement on Wednesday to buy 135 acres of freehold land in the 5,000-acre City of Elmina from a unit of Sime Darby Bhd, its 32% shareholder.

Both parties are targeting to wrap up talks by March next year. E&O is also planning a wellness-themed mixed development there, its second such concept after Avira.

“We are working out the boundaries of the land and will probably acquire it once the conversion and infrastructure are done, which makes sense for us as a master developer,” Chan said.

The Elmina West land, which hugs a forest reserve, marks E&O’s maiden township in the Klang Valley, as well as its first proper collaboration with Sime Darby since the plantation giant acquired a much-hyped 30%-stake in E&O two years ago.

While details of the project remain scant, analysts estimate that it could fetch a gross development value (GDV) exceeding RM1bil, with the purchase price likely in the region of RM200mil.

Sime Darby has nearly sold out Phase 1 of Elmina in Sungai Buloh following a launch in the second quarter this year, at prices ranging from RM600,000 to RM800,000.

The entire City of Elmina has a projected GDV of RM21bil to be developed till 2040.

On Seri Tanjung Pinang 2 – E&O’s massive extension to its seafronting Seri Tanjung Pinang in Tanjung Tokong, Penang – Chan said reclamation works could begin in mid-2014 onceit gets the greenlightfromtheDepartment of Environment for the RM25bil GDV, 760-acre development.

The detailed environmental impact assessment (DEIA) study is expected to be submitted for approval by the end of the year.

Asked about the risk of non-compliance of the DEIA, Chan said: “All the questions have been raised during the public forum and are being addressed by the report. The authorities will review it and decide from there whether to issue full or conditional approval, or otherwise.”

Seri Tanjung Pinang 2 has received an approval-in-principle from the state government.

Chan also said the company aimed to start sales for its RM250mil GDV Princes House project in central London, featuring 56 residential units, by November.

Although he stayedmumon its selling price, industry observers say the Covent Garden property may cost £1,500 per sq ft.