Yoma Land to develop suburban offices, more apartments in Yangon
Source: The Business Times
RACHEL MUI rachmui@sph.com sg@RachelMuiBT
MYANMAR-FOCUSED conglomerate Yoma Strategic Holdings' real estate arm, Yoma Land, plans to develop its first suburban commercial property at StarCity, and a second residential project under the City Loft brand in another part of Yangon.
The City Loft brand was first launched in November 2018 at StarCity, one of Yoma Land's flagship developments in the east of Yangon.
The two new projects are in line with Yoma Strategic's mission to deliver a "sustainable urban lifestyle and vibrant master planned communities", Yoma Strategic said on Monday.
The apartments at StarCity cater to the "underserved" middle-income population in Yangon, the company added. It said CityLoft @ StarCity continued to attract buying interest from first-time home buyers due to its "competitive price point paired with mortgage repayment terms of up to 25 years".
As such, Yoma Land saw a need to develop a second City Loft project in another part of the city "to bring work closer to home" for potential buyers.
Yoma Land is in the process of procuring the second City Loft site in a "well-developed township". The project is expected to house more than 3,000 units with communal, recreational and commercial areas, subject to finalisation.
Separately, Yoma Land intends to expand the development plan for StarCity.
To this end, it will develop its first suburban commercial workspace called Star Hub, to provide long-term, community-driven solutions for people to work and live in closer proximity.
The first phase of the Star Hub development will likely comprise a low-rise office facility that can yield a gross floor area of about 290,000 square feet upon its targeted completion at the end of 2021.
The project has received long-term leasing commitments from "prominent technology and financial services companies for more than 50 per cent of the office space", Yoma Strategic noted.
Serge Pun, executive chairman of Yoma Strategic, said: "With the pandemic, the importance of the environment where you live, work or invest has been magnified significantly. Whilst we expect the economy to bounce back from the effects of Covid-19, we take a long-term view of market trends and will continue to develop communities that reap the benefits of long-term investment."
The targeted sites for both projects are not part of Yoma Strategic's existing landbanks.
Over the weekend, Yoma Strategic announced that its full-year net loss had widened to US$60.5 million, from US$36.9 million a year ago. This comes amid a higher share of losses of joint ventures, an increase in the cost of sales, administrative expenses, as well as income tax expenses.
Yoma Strategic has businesses in real estate, food and beverage, automotive, financial services, as well as investments.
The mainboard-listed counter closed flat at 30.5 Singapore cents on Friday.