Aspen Vision City, Batu Kawan

Review

Pavither
⋅
21 May 2019

Aspen Vision City is a project in the town of Batu Kawan in Penang. It is a project of the Aspen Group, which some of their other projects include the HH Park Residence, and Tri Pinnacle, for residential developments, the Vittoria Financial Centre and Vervea for financial centres, and Beacon Executive Suites, Vogue, and HH Park for their integrated development, among others.

Aspen Vision City is poised to be an integrated development, which will comprise of shops, offices, bungalows and a condominium. While information on the projects within its development is scarce, it is known that the entire site will be completed by the year 2025.

Address: Lebuhraya Bandar Cassia, 14110 Batu Kawan, Penang

Property Type: Condominium, Bungalow, Shop, Office

Land Title: Mixed

No of Storeys: N/A

No of Blocks: N/A

Total Units: N/A

Tenure: Freehold

Sales Gallery: Lebuhraya Bandar Cassia, 14110 Batu Kawan, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Site GPS Coordinates: 5.235684, 100.436810

Expected Date of Completion: 2025

Built-up area: N/A

Facilities:

Vogue Lifestyle Residence

Cycling track
50-metre lap pool
Leisure pool
Submerged deck
Children’s pool
Clubhouse with elevated event lounge
Sky garden
Exercise corner
BBQ areas
Pool Deck Pavilion
Sunken Pool Pavilion
Cage Pavilion
Sun Lounge
Reading Corner
Fitness Corner
Sky Gym
Rooftop Observatory
Nature Sky Walk
Direct Link to IKEA

Vivo Executive Apartment

Linear garden
Retail promenade walkway
Residential drop-off porch
Feature garden
Lap pool
Pool deck
Event lawn
Children’s pool
BBQ area
Children’s playground
Shower area
Sculpture
Gymnasium
Changing room

Launch Price: From RM398,000

Maintenance Fee psf: N/A

Parking Bay/s per Unit: N/A

Vivo Executive Apartment
Type	Built-Up	No. of Rooms
A	730 sq ft	2+1R, 2B
B	830 sq ft	3R, 2B

Aspen Vision City is a fully integrated development in Penang, on the mainland of the state in Batu Kawan. It comprises freehold developments of shops, offices, bungalows, and condominiums. The entire development is estimated to be completed by the year 2025.

The condominiums are named Vogue Lifestyle Residence and Vivo Executive Apartment, both of which will house separate facilities. Vogue Lifestyle Residence for example has the special feature of enjoying a direct link to IKEA Batu Kawan, as well as a rooftop observatory, Nature Sky Walk, and a clubhouse with elevated event lounge. The Vivo Executive Apartment on the other hand features more ordinary facilities, such as a gymnasium, feature garden, event lawn, sculptures, and a gymnasium, among others.

The Vogue Lifestyle Residence also features smart features, such as IoT solutions, and a Smart Resident Management which is an exclusive-to-residents mobile app, and Smart Security with real time mobile alerts. Additionally, the development comes with high speed broadband, and FTTP-ready infrastructure.

Aspen Vision City is a primely located development within Bandar Cassia, and is privileged to the only Central Business District (CBD) in the area and one of the few CBDs in the northern region of Malaysia. Accessibility to this development is convenient, with its proximity to the second Penang bridge. The development also enjoys easy access to the North-South Highway.

Residents and tenants of Aspen Vision City will have easy access to many modern amenities, including the newly opened IKEA Batu Kawan which is a stone’s throw away, and also to the Penang International Airport which is only about half an hour away. The new KDU University campus is also in the area.

Additionally, there are also many industrial areas nearby, such as the Batu Kawan Industrial Park, Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone, Bukit Minyak Industrial Park, and Prai Industrial Park.

Other main towns of importance are also close by, with Butterworth at about 30 kilometres away, Bukit Mertajam at 18 kilometres, and the capital of the state, Georgetown, at about 33.8 kilometres away.

Project title	Tenure	Built-up	Price
Aspen Vision City, Batu Kawan	Freehold	N/A	From RM398,000
BM Parklane, Bukit Mertajam	Freehold	947 sq ft – 1,513 sq ft	From RM406,000
Santorini, Tanjung Tokong	Leasehold	850 sq ft	From RM430,000

Pros

The plus point of Aspen Vision City is definitely its proximity to IKEA Batu Kawan and the new KDU campus. It also enjoys one of the lowest price points in the area, with a comparatively lower launch price as compared to similar developments in other areas. This ideally makes Aspen Vision City a great place for investment targeting working professionals at IKEA Batu Kawan and students from the KDU campus.

Cons

Locals in are however of the opinion that the area is overdeveloped, with a few saying that the area sometimes resembles a ghost town. While some are of the opinion that any development in Batu Kawan will make a good long term investment, others are sceptical and say that it will need a minimum of 80 years to come to that point.

There are some online users who claim that Aspen Vision City is being sold at a future price, and also some who say that the development is more suited for own stay, and not for investment. It is also the general consensus that the area is overdeveloped.

Assuming you take out a RM318,400 loan (80% LTV) with an interest rate of 4.6% that is payable in 30 years to purchase an RM398,000 unit in Aspen Vision City, your monthly debt instalments works out to RM1,632 per month.

Following experts’ advice that your monthly expenses on housing should not exceed 30% of your salary, you need an income of at least RM5,440 per month to be able to afford a unit in this project.