Platinum 1 strategy of selling luxury apartments after completing the super structure sees success
Sri Lanka’s luxury condominium market segment has now been at the fore of renewed interest and it has an extremely optimistic future with the restoration of peace and political stability in the island.
However the lack of clarity on government policy on condo property sale to foreigners will be a blow against the surge in this market, a real estate and property market expert said.
Managing Director of Platinum Realty Investments (Pvt) Ltd Kishore Reddy, a successful developer/promoter of various projects with over 12 years involvement in the field, told the Business Times that the government’s top authority has given an assurance that provisions will be made to ease regulations on restricting land sales to foreigners to facilitate condo sales.
But the clarification on this policy is yet to be announced by the government, he said, adding that the Sri Lankan expatriate community is a large source of demand in the luxury property market segment and the affordability power is much higher within the expatriate community than wouldbe local buyers.
However he pointed out that over 50 per cent of apartments at his company’s latest Platinum 1 high rise condominium located on Bagatale Road, Colombo has been pre-sold as the building structure is completed before its launch.
At present, the customer can walk in and view his chosen space prior to purchase. This motivates the potential investor to buy the property as he is very sure that his investment is secure, he said.
This was possible due to the financial strength of its promoters, he added.
Platinum Realty Investments (Pvt) Ltd is a BOI registered Sri Lankan company with more than US$20 million of capital investment from Sri Lankan investors and Foreign Direct Investments from Paharpur Mauritius Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of the Paharpur Cooling Towers and Pragnya Fund, a Mauritius Based Equity Fund, he disclosed. The seeking of bookings from buyers for luxury apartments with the advances made is not very easy in Sri Lanka and flats are sold after they are almost built fully. Therefore they decided to complete the super structure of Platinum 1 and then looked for buyers, he said. This system worked well for the project and Platinum 1 has become one of his most successful high rise luxury apartment ventures, he revealed.
The Sri Lankan expatriate community has re-emerged in the post-war market, being at- tracted by a stable political environment and easing of Central Bank regulations with regard to inward and outward flows of currency, he disclosed.
Many foreigners from the Middle East, China and the neighboring Maldives are also candidates for rent or purchase of the luxury apartments.
The growth of this foreign demand is estimated to be between seven and 10 per cent per annum in the medium term.
Mr. Reddy said he came to stay in Sri Lanka at the peak of its civil unrest in 1996, during a period when not many people ventured into the country with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political science, Public Administration and Economics after a successful career in the hotel industry in Mumbai.
Having reached the peak of his career in the hospitality industry with many years service at Hotel Lanka Oberoi in Sri Lanka he then opened a chain of eight successful restaurants which he later sold and ventured into real estate and property development.
In an interview with the Business Times, Mr. Reddy noted that the 20- floor state-ofthe-art building is made up of premium residential condominiums suited for the discerning along with high end shopping facilities and recreational space for those who are in search of a prime location with a touch of refined luxury and style.
The ‘automated valet car parking system’ a sophisticated automated parking system based on Korean technology, with 216 parking slots, is incidentally the highest density of parking based on number of units in Sri Lanka.
This system allows the residents the comfort of driving their vehicles into designated elevators which the system transports to an available parking slot that can be summoned automatically with a password or a swipe of a card.
The complex will also house its own convention hall with a capacity to accommodate 150 people.
The fully fitted recreational areas will provide modern amenities - swimming pool, modern gymnasium with the latest equipment, lounges, meeting rooms and an elegant residential lobby area - at just an elevator ride away.
The ground to third floor houses 60,000 square feet of commercial space offering maximum visibility and accessibility, home presently to premium retail establishments such as Mango, Samsung and Nike to name a few, with future plans to attract other global brands in- line with the high end image of the complex, he mentioned. (Bandula)