Sfera Residency, Puchong South

Front and side view of SFERA Residences@Puchong South. It’s a one-block mixed development project divided into two wings, West and East

“If I were you, I would get a unit facing the pool and The Atmosphere rather than the other side since it’ll be the same price regardless of which side you face,” said the sales consultant, when met at the showroom.

The eager young gentleman was recommending the units facing South (at SFERA’s poolview and newly built urban lifestyle mall The Atmosphere) rather than those oriented Northwards facing Giant Hypermart and the main backbone road to the highway, Jalan Putra Permai.

Either way, however, the views will not be bad since SFERA’s residential units begin at the 12^th floor and go all the way up to the 46^th floor, dwarfing five-storey-high Atmosphere and three-storey high Giant while guaranteeing unobstructed views of the vast Seri Kembangan hinterland as far as the eye can see.

When it was first mooted, SFERA’s exceptional height was not lost to its developer YNH Bhd who named it Summit Residences, according to a report in The Edge back in 2013. The point was to make it the tallest building in Puchong South so that it becomes a landmark by default. But Summit has since been renamed SFERA to keep in context with the parcel it has been built on, that is The Atmosphere, and the street on which it sits: Jalan Atmosphere Utama 1.

The word “Sfera” actually means spherical in Italian. Perhaps some correlation can be made there − the earth’s atmosphere is round.

An artist’s impression of SFERA’s height when juxtaposed against Giant Hypermart (building infront) and The Atmosphere (the building seen at the back)

A lofty monument on a flat piece of land. Sometimes, one cannot tell what drives these eccentric strategies, but… “Residents of units facing the north can see all the way to Sunway!” YNH was reported to have said.

Some things do have function over form then.

Apart from its height, it’s location of being neatly sandwiched between two shopping malls does work to drive up its value. Certainly, picking up groceries will be a cinch for residents since shopping and everything else associated with the activity will literally be a hop and a skip across the road.

And come 2022 when the SSP MRT is opened, shuttling by mass rapid rail lines will likewise be another cinch as MRT Station 32, being maybe two hops and two skips down the road, will only take 4 minutes to reach.

But while these conveniences may look like a good deal especially when seen at this point in time, one has to note that the freshly-tarred roads encircling SFERA are currently devoid of traffic. Giant too, is seldom packed even on weekends and 53-acre Atmosphere comprising an art-inspired shopping centre, boulevard shop offices and commercial units still lies barren of tenants despite having had most of its phases completed in 2012.

Fastforward to the future when premises fill up and shoppers troop in and commuters and traffic and haphazard parking clog the roads, security, privacy, noise and air pollution, not to mention one’s own breathing space, may well be compromised.

Remember too that SFERA is not exclusively residential. It too has its own row of ground floor shops, seven floors of offices and 10 floors of car parking made to accommodate office tenants and residents alike. In short, this development is going to get busy.

Still, it’s not as if the huge expanse of Bandar Putra Permai in Seri Kembangan will ever max its density or grow as frenetic as gridlocked KL, what with being blessed with rolling hills and endless plains to diffuse tomorrow’s “madding crowd”*.

“My gut feeling is that the property will appreciate by as much as 40% in five years while rental yield should be around 5% to 6% upon Vacant Possession,” projected a rather confident post in a property forum.

Is that a prophecy? Could be, if you look at market trends.

“The time to buy is now when the best units are still available and prices are still at Best Buy” reminded Allen, and as if to push persuasion further, he invited: “Come, let’s see the showroom.”

The Type A5/A6 996sq ft unit in the showroom

Units and Freebies Galore

Stepping inside, you might be in for an anti-climax if you’re expecting to be swept off your feet.

Perhaps it’s the minimalistic approach to their interior design or the pragmatic omission of wow factors that give off that look of being a tad ordinary, but everything you see spells of simplicity, practicality and understatement.

From the entrance past the open concept kitchen to the dining and hall

“Only the Type A 3bedroom-2bathroom units have been launched,” said the young man indicating to the brochures showing the 985/978 and 996sq ft Type A1/A2/A3/A4/A5 and A6 units available for purchase.

“My boss will not be launching the larger 1800 to 2,000sq ft Type B and Type D units until later,” he indicated, reiterating the words of the developer in a recent The Edge Property interview.

Acknowledging the current soft market conditions during the launch of SFERA in June, KNH was reported in the Edge to have said that he would only be launching the larger units when the market picks up.

Left: The Master Bedroom with its large glass wall and windows. Right: The free built-in wardrobe for the Master Bedroom

The second room which can be made into a study or left as a bedroom

The third room. All Type A units and their mirror units have three rooms and two baths

The units are long rather than rectangle and feel like rectangles split in two to make mirror copies of each other. This explains their names such as A1/A2 (985sq ft), A3/A4 (978sq ft), and A5/A6 (996sq ft).

“We’re a mid-range to high end development as the larger units from level 35 are over a million,” said the sales person. “This show unit is Type A5/A6 at 996sq ft. All units come semi furnished with kitchen fittings, hood, hob, oven, four aircons (York), washing machine, fridge (Electrolux), built-in wardrobe for Master Bedroom, fully fitted bathrooms with water heaters and two free side-by-side car park bays.”

Target Market

SFERA’s target market is obvious. It’s for first-time home buyers and owner occupiers although buy-to-let investors are not excluded as the units come furnished enough for tenants to move in hassle-free.

Students alone will make up a good portion of possible tenants as there are as many as eight universities located within a 10km radius.  And that’s not including the colleges slightly further away or the fresh grads who will surely be looking for work in the surrounding shop offices.

Left: The corridor leading to the rooms. Right: The Open Concept Kitchen counter. If you don’t cook a lot, you can omit this kitchen counter and open up more space

Left: The yard, which is not closed in as depicted in the show unit. Centre: A view of the Wet Kitchen. Right: The actual kitchen

Another look at the free Electrolux Fridge and Oven

Which explains why the apartments are devoid of pretensions.

Who needs pretensions when the whole idea of buying a home is to let one get on with building one’s life with a minimum of fuss?

This is so true for young families, SFERA’s target market.

No Balconies? What a Refreshing Change!

And that’s why there are no fancy elements or decorative embellishments to bog one down with cleaning and other time-consuming drudgery. There aren’t even balconies included to complicate life.

What? No balconies? Yes! That’s right, no balconies. But why?

“Because balconies are a waste of space!” the sales personnel reasoned.

“Nobody will use it, definitely not young people and not for gardening. The closest they will get to plants is maybe get a little potted cactus to put on the table.”

Besides, he said, if you put a balcony there, people will use it to hang their washing.

That’s true. Imagine. Dirty laundry flapping in the wind at 46 storeys high.

Although there are no balconies, the walls holding the large powder-coated aluminium windows in the hall and Master Bedroom (left and right) are also made of the same glass, allowing crystal clear views of the Seri Kembangan skyline and more than enough fresh air and sunlight through. The potted plants outside the windows are for showroom display only. In the actual building, there will be no flower pot ledges outside

“That’s why we took the balconies away and utilised the space for the units instead, making them bigger at close to 1,000sq ft.”

People will appreciate the extra space more inside, he said. But to compensate for the lack of balconies, extra large windows have been included in the hall for enough natural sunlight and fresh air to flow through. These windows follow through to the Master Bedroom.

The Masterbath. Similar to the shared bath, both will come fully fitted

All the bedrooms are of adequate size with no overdone or oversized bathrooms. The flooring is made of Porcelain Tiles while the kitchen, yard, foyer and bathrooms feature Homogeneous Tiles.

Facilities

Facilities include Pools and Playground amidst landscaped gardens

There are 17 facilities in all located on the 11th and Mezzanine floor. Most are are catered to young families with growing children such as a Nursery or Creche, an Indoor Toddler Playground, Children’s Playground, Children Play Pool, a Games Room, and a Library / Study Room.

Adult areas include a Lap Pool, a Squash Court, a BBQ Area, Multipurpose Hall, Laundry Space, Gymnasium, Steam Room, Changing Room, a Sky Terrace and  of course, a Surau.

There will be three layers of securty, four storeys of carparking plus some added features of Unifi Ready Fibre Optic Cables. SFERA is also Astro enabled.

Four levels of car park bays