WHAT is your ideal gated community?

Is it a small development with a dozen houses and a bit of garden or is it a resort full of greenery where you and your family can jog, cycle, swim and even play golf?

Well, there are several such developments in the country, but the upmarket RM1bil Valencia in Selangor is probably one of the best that I have seen.

Living in Valencia is like having your own golf course and acres of greenery. This is because the 288-acre development near the Sungai Buloh toll plaza of the North-South Expressway (NSE) boasts the only nine-hole golf course and clubhouse exclusively for residents.

Its immediate neighbour is Sierramas, an upmarket gated community that was developed earlier. On the other side of the NSE is the Villamas project, Sierramas West and the ELC international school. They are linked to the Valencia/Sierramas side via a bridge over the NSE.

Chow Chee Wah and Linda Lim at Valencia's golf course exclusively for residents only.

Valencia is a low-density development (eventual population of only 3,000) by Valencia Development Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gamuda Bhd.

It has five precincts: Garden Precinct, North Golf Precinct, South Golf Precinct, Hill Court Precinct and the Village Square.

The first three precincts have a mix of bungalows, linked bungalows, semi-detached and garden terrace houses while the Hill Court Precinct only has garden terrace homes. All except the South Golf Precinct are on leasehold land.

The Valencia bungalows with over 4,200 sq ft built-up area are surrounded by lakes and golf course and are so designed that no two units have the same layout.

The semi-detached houses with over 3,200 sq ft built-up also carry the Valencia trademark – modern design and layout, spacious rooms, high ceilings, tall windows and panoramic view of the landscape.

The garden terrace units on the highest point of Valencia have over 2,700 sq ft built-up and come with large windows and glass-panelled doors.

To reflect Valencia's exclusivity, the 26 street names in its 26 neighbourhoods are not called “Jalan” but “Elitis” for the elite group of people who live there.

The living room of one of the two super show bungalows in Valencia

So you have Elitis Teja (Teja means sunset clouds) for the 30 homes there and Elitis Tiara (Tiara means crown) for the 19 homes encircling a central landscaped courtyard.

Travelling in a golf buggy there recently, I could see the tremendous efforts Gamuda Land (Gamuda’s property arm) has put into making Valencia, its flagship boutique development, the ideal suburban home that is within easy reach of the Kuala Lumpur city centre.

I last visited Valencia several years ago during its official launch when guests were treated to a dinner party and fireworks display.

Today, the clubhouse with its Olympic-sized swimming pool within the Village Square with specialty stores, gourmet cafes, ice-cream parlour and a tower-like building gives a resort feel.

Besides the 24-hour security and patrolling, there's a central monitoring system for the houses. Facilities include tennis courts, indoor and outdoor spa pool.

Several children (unaccompanied by adults) parked their bicycles at the Valencia Golf Terrace and entered the club restaurant that serves sumptuous food.

“These children can roam freely here without fear as they know Valencia is very safe and secured,” said Gamuda Land managing director Chow Chee Wah.

Chow said many expatriates preferred to either buy or lease houses in Valencia as it was like a landed condominium with better facilities and security than some of the best condominiums in Malaysia.

If you invest in a house in Valencia you can be assured of at least 6% to 8% rental returns, Chow assures. A bungalow can be rented out for between RM12,000 and RM18,000 while an unfurnished semi-detached house can be easily rented out for RM8,000. The rental for a link house is about RM4,000!

Gamuda Land general manager (sales & marketing) for Valencia, Linda Lim said about 30% of the 28 units of Phase 3C two-storey garden terrace homes had been sold.

“We have not even launched them yet and there are no advertisements,” she said, adding that the units with built-up area from 2,480 sq ft were priced from RM610,000.

She said a preview was recently held for Citibank Platinum cardholders for the Phase 4B super bungalows in the Garden Precinct. Visitors were impressed with the two luxuriously furnished super show bungalows that were sold for about RM3mil each. Another six show houses are being built in this precinct.

Lim said all 12 super bungalows with 4,951 sq ft built-up (priced from RM2.2mil to RM3.2mil) had been sold. The two-storey link bungalows (Phase 4A, also in the same precinct) with 3,633 sq ft built-up (priced from RM1.2mil to RM1.5mil) have also been sold out.

Meanwhile, there are 6km of pathways for residents to walk or jog on.

Unlike many small gated communities where high perimeter walls are built so near the houses (like a fortress), Valencia's high perimeter fencing with CCTV cameras is some distance away from the homes.

There are several lakes and some of them have lotuses in full bloom. There is a big fountain in the middle of a lake near the clubhouse and another near the Village Square.

Valencia will have about 900 houses (comprising bungalows, semi-detached houses and terrace houses) when fully completed in 2009.

Since the first launch in 2001, 496 homes worth over RM600mil have been sold and handed over with the Certificate of Fitness. The occupancy rate is about 75% (19% of them expatriates).

(Note: The name of the condo that was inadvertently left out in last week’s column is Kiara 1888, which is one of the lowest density projects in Mont’ Kiara, with only 130 high-rise units and 52 low-rise villas).

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