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View all search resultsRooftop residences provide houses with all benefits of apartment living
Housing complexes with facilities such as walkways, gardens and swimming pools are hardly unique, but when they are built on the roofs of shopping they can be expected to attract attention
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H
ousing complexes with facilities such as walkways, gardens and swimming pools are hardly unique, but when they are built on the roofs of shopping they can be expected to attract attention.
One such housing complex to find itself in the spotlight is Cosmo Park on the rooftop of Thamrin City mall in Central Jakarta, following a twitter post by user @shahrirbahar1 on Tuesday.
“I’m surprised it has gone viral, the townhouses have been around for years,” a Cosmo Park security guard, who preferred to remain anonymous, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Cosmo Park was built in 2007 and has been occupied by tenants since 2009, said Sudarmi Yuliana, customer service head of the Cosmo Park management.
The housing complex features greenery, a tennis court, a swimming pool and a playground. Similar to any other housing complex or apartment block, the management also provide cleaning and security services for the residents.
The residents can park their cars in the carports of their houses, which are located on the 10th floor of Thamrin City.
“We have a special ramp only for Cosmo Park residents,” Sudarmi said recently as reported by kompas.com.
Sudarmi added that all units in Cosmo Park had been sold. The residents either own or rent the two-story, 100-square-meter houses.
“Most of the residents have stores downstairs [in Thamrin City] or work in the Thamrin and Sudirman area. The expats who live here are renters,” Sudarmi said.
Property giant PT Agung Podomoro Land, which built the mall and residential complex, aimed to provide affordable housing in the center of the city, the company’s vice president of marketing Zaldy Wihardja said.
“They can park their car, they can garden and sunbathe. It’s like a house at a more affordable price,” he told kompas.com on Wednesday.
The houses are sold at a starting price of Rp 4 billion (US$ 282,976) per unit according to several property agent websites.
He said a plot of land in the Sudirman-Thamrin area, the most prominent and central business district in the capital, could cost hundreds of millions of rupiah per square meter. At Cosmo Park, the price was lower as it was built on top of a shopping center building.
The developer aimed to provide bigger living space for those who want to live in a house but with the amenities of an apartment.
Therefore the ownership type of the units in Cosmo Park is similar to a “strata title” apartment as it is in a multilevel building.
Being on top of a shopping center, there might be safety concerns regarding fires or earthquakes but a housing agent brushed these off saying that all this had been taken into consideration.
“The foundation and materials for the buildings are special and very solid, while in the case of fire there are standard procedures,” a housing agent for a unit in Cosmo Park told the Post.
The housing can be accessed through the lobby of the Cosmo mansion and using the lift to the 10th floor with a special access key.
Security measures ensure that visitors must have an appointment with either a tenant or an agent of the unit to gain access.
“We have 12-hour shifts and 24-hour protection by security guards here,” said a security officer.
Thamrin City is not the only mall to have a housing complex above it.
On top of the Mall of Indonesia in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, there is also a housing complex called The Villas.
Similar to Cosmo Park, The Villas is an exclusive housing complex located above the mall.
It shares similar characteristics such as tight security and a complex that features paved streets and facilities such as a swimming pool.
Three-story classic-style mansions on 150 sq.m. plots are lined up on the rooftop of the mall and have their own parking garages.
To enter The Villas visitors must use the lift in the lobby 2 area with a dedicated button to enter the reception. A security guard is stationed in the reception area of The Villas to greet the residents.
“There are 150 units within the complex and nearly all of the units are full,” said an agent adding that the price per unit started from Rp 4 billion on a strata title form of ownership.(tru)
