Malaysian Developer SP Setia Launches First Project In Australia

By Neville D'Cruz MELBOURNE, Nov 8 (Bernama) -- Malaysian Minister of Housing and Local Government Chor Chee Heung officially launched SP Setia Group's multi-million residential project, Fulton Lane, here on Monday. It was witnessed by about 200 guests and prominent Malaysian government officials, including Consul General Dr Mohd Rameez Yahaya. Located between Franklin and A’Beckett streets, the 4,300 sq meter site was bought last year and SP Setia moved quickly to establish Fulton Lane as a premium address in the CBD. Designed by Fender Katsalidis, headed up by award-winning architect and current President of the Architects Institute of Australia, Karl Fender, the A$470 million Fulton Lane comprises two towers made up of 700 apartments and is expected to complete in 2014. A short walk from iconic Queen Victoria Market and close to RMIT, La Trobe University and Melbourne University, Fulton LN presents an attractive location for youngsters pursuing tertiary education. SP Setia President and Chief Executive Officer Liew Kee Sin said SP Setia came to Australia to invest as much as to learn. The group has a close working relations with the Lend Lease Group of Australia through its Setia City Mall joint venture project in Malaysia. Liew said the partnership has exposed and attracted SP Setia to "the very professional and highly transparent Australian working and business culture". Melbourne is SP Setia's third overseas venture after Vietnam and Singapore. Liew said it was a logical choice as there were close to 30,000 Malaysian-born people living in Melbourne. "This presents a significant opportunity to reach out to this market segment, a sizeble subset of whom would be familiar with and appreciative of our strong development track record and branding in Malaysia," he said. SP Setia is the only developer in Malaysia that has three prestigious FIABCI Prix d'Excellence Awards to its name. FIABCI is the French acronym for the International Real Estate Federation and the Prix d’Excellence is akin to the Property Oscars. Touching on the learning aspect that Melbourne has to offer, Liew said there was no better city that exemplified the group's development philosophy based on the four pillars of Live, Learn, Work and Play. Liew said Melbourne also boasts a selection of highly esteemed academic institutions and Australia is one of the fastest growing advanced economies in the world with Melbourne being the heart of the financial, banking and resource industries. "These impart a very special living sensibility to the city and Fulton LN hopes to reignite this culture in the northern part of Melbourne's CBD," Liew said, adding that the group's experience with Fulton LN has been enriching and SP Setia was excited to continue investing in Melbourne. Recently, the group made a commitment to a second project when it bought a significant site in the city's premier residential boulevard, St Kilda Road. SP Setia paid A$25.5 million for the 0.9 hectare site. -- BERNAMA