As demand for houses and apartments in Bogor is on the increase, several developers have been implementing property projects in the area.

The chronic traffic problems and air pollution facing Jakarta have caused a decline in the quality of life, driving many to move away from the capital and live in secondary cities.

But that'€™s not only the reason for the moves.

Several secondary cities have reportedly improved in terms of job opportunities, facilities and infrastructure, thereby making them comfortable places to live.

To take advantage of this phenomenon, a number of property developers are developing projects in these secondary cities to cater to the needs of the people living there.

One of the secondary cities deemed to have great potential for property development by developers is Bogor in West Java.

Among those developing projects in Bogor recently are PT Perdana Gapuraprima, which has constructed many different property types, including condominium hotels (condotels) and an apartment and convention hall, as well as PT Sentul City Tbk, which is well-known for its landed houses.

Currently, PT Perdana Gapuraprima is developing the Bhuvana Hotel and Residence project on the main Ciawi road in Gadog, Bogor. The developer is preparing a condotel, apartment block, villatel and convention hall for the project.

PT Perdana Gapuraprima operational director Taufik Zainal said that the location'€™s strategic nature was the developer'€™s reason for selecting it.

'€œBhuvana is located exactly at the exit point of the toll road leading to tourism destinations in Bogor and Puncak,'€ he was quoted by kompas.com as saying.

Taufik also said that new buildings were being developed to cater to the growing demand for such facilities in the Bogor area.

The developer is planning to erect a 20-story condotel tower housing 278 condominiums, two 20-story apartment towers housing 157 apartments each, a villatel with seven villas, and a meeting center capable of accommodating 700 to 1,000 people on a 1,500-square meter plot of land.

With an investment of Rp 400 billion (US$32 million), the company will commence construction on Oct. 23.

Meanwhile, according to the developer'€™s chief operating officer, Arief Aryanto, Bhuvana is not the company'€™s only project in Bogor.

'€œWe have been developing projects in Bogor for the last 30 years, so this is not our first [project]. We have also developed a landed house project called Cimanggu City Valley,'€ he said.

Aside from developing property projects in Bogor, the company has also developed a number of mixed-use apartments in Jakarta, Solo and Bali.

Condotel project

One of the developers'€™ project highlights is the Bhuvana condotel in Ciawi, Gadog area, which it started to sell in August last year. According to the developer, all of the condotel buyers were from Bogor, signifying the high local demand for condotels in the area.

'€œ100 percent of the buyers came from Bogor. We haven'€™t got any buyers from outside Bogor,'€ PT Perdana Gapuraprima marketing director was quoted by kompas.com as saying during a recent press conference at the Belleza building in Permata Hijau, South Jakarta.

Up until now, according to Reindy, 86 units in the Bhuvana condotel had been sold, with expectations that all of them would have been sold by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Reindy said, property buyers in Bogor were relatively wealthier than in other areas, with end users and investors currently dominating purchases of the developer'€™s condotel units in the city.

'€œInitially, prices [for our condotel units] started at approximately Rp 600 million to Rp 700 million. Currently, our prices start at Rp 900 million, yet buyers are still willing [to buy them],'€ he said.

The decision of investors to buy condotel units for such prices was motivated by two factors: the strategic location and the size of the units, which reach 33 square meters.

Investors consider a price range of Rp 600 to Rp 700 million low for condotels with these attributes. Additionally, investment and maintenance for condotels are relatively easier than for other property types.

'€œWe are partnering with Horison [Hotel Groups] to operate the condotels,'€ he said.

Investing Rp 400 billion in the condotel project, the company has received Rp 86 billion in unit sales.

In follow up to the success of its condotel project, the developer plans to construct a second tower of 152 units.

'€œ[For the second tower], we will make an initial offer of 30 units from the second tower'€™s fifth, sixth and seventh levels,'€ he said.

Cashing in from landed houses

Apparently, condotels and apartments are not the only lucrative property products in Bogor. In the city, landed houses are also in demand.

Recently, PT Sentul City Tbk posted a sales figure of Rp 1.2 trillion as of September this year. The biggest contributors to the sales figure were landed houses and commercial spaces in the Sentul City area in Bogor.

PT Sentul City Tbk vice president director Andrian Budi Utama said that with this sales figure, the company had almost reached this year'€™s annual sales target of Rp 1.5 trillion.

'€œTaking the current sales figure into account, we are optimistic that we will be able to exceed our annual sales target this year. Our optimism is also supported by the positive sales trend of the first phase of our Sentul Garden apartments, which has seen some 100 of 120 units sold so far,'€ he remarked.

He added that the company also hoped to get additional sales revenue from the second phase of the apartments, which would be released on Oct. 20. (JP)

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