The company behind the 35-room The Edison George Town – ET Hospitality Ventures Sdn Bhd – is a subsidiary of ET Group, which is helmed by veteran Singaporean hotelier Eddie Tan. Mr Tan was formerly a general manager with the Mandarin group. He last held the post at Marina Mandarin (from 1997 to 2005) before he moved to Penang and based his hotel and property consultancy there, running it with his son Eugene.

The Edison George Town – housed in a former Hokkien tycoon’s mansion built in 1906 and situated in the buffer zone of George Town’s core heritage centre – will start operations in July. The building’s last use was as a dilapidated but iconic budget hotel named Cathay Hotel, which had been operating since the 1950s.

This new incarnation as a top-end luxury hotel is its first major renovation and refurbishment in decades, notes Mr Eugene Tan, who is spearheading the refurbishment. The Edison George Town will have 35 rooms, with two of the biggest suites ranging from 58-61 square metres each. The hotel will also have a lounge, courtyard, library, and pool.

The Small Luxury Hotel affiliation is for better branding and marketing, adds Mr Tan. SLH has over 421,000 members worldwide and a database of over 25,000 luxury agents.

“This is truly a father-and-son project which we wanted to do together,” he says, explaining the origin of the name “Edison” (Edi-son) and the new brand of hotels they plan to set up in Malaysia and, eventually, the region.

The ET Group is described as a “developer of lifestyle properties” and has handled interior design and hotel consultancy projects in Asia, including corporate offices and private residences.

The incarnation of The Edison George Town in this grand early 20th century mansion was the biggest challenge as it required a massive restoration. The building was restored by the landlord, Lim Lean Teng Foundation, and outfitted by ET Hospitality Ventures Sdn Bhd, which has a long-term lease. This is not an unusual practice in George Town, where landowners like clanhouses and foundations have insisted on heritage conservation and found rentees who were willing to comply with both the government and the landlords’ requirements.

While both the landlord and company declined to disclose restoration and refurbishment costs, it’s easily a multi-million-ringgit project. The process involved getting approval from the heritage authorities of the local council, says Mr Tan. He adds that structures that had been added to the hotel over the years were taken down, and it’s also been properly renovated to operate as a modern hotel. The interior design is done by Malaysian hospitality design specialist Blu Water Studio, whose projects include Aloft KL Sentral and Hilton Petaling Jaya.

SLH’s vice-president for Asia-Pacific, Mark Wong, welcomed the new hotel into its fold, highlighting how all its hotels are filled with distinctive character. “We want our guests to know where they are in the world when they step through the main door,” he says, adding that the SLH feature is that its hotels are consistently different and offer the highest standards of luxury.

The hotel brand affiliation company was founded in 1991 and has over 520 hotels in more than 80 countries. Asia-Pacific currently contributes 11 per cent of SLH’s total revenue with 120 hotels in this region, most of them in Thailand, China and Japan. In the last 12 months, it added its first hotels in Tokyo, Seychelles, South Korea, and now Penang.

The 110-year-old Anglo-Chinese mansion, once called Venus, was built by Yeoh Wee Gark, a Hokkien tycoon, a community leader and a contemporary of Cheong Fatt Tze, a Hakka tycoon, who built the famous Blue Mansion across the road on Leith Street. Yeoh was part of a syndicate of Hokkien tycoons who controlled opium importation into the Straits Settlements through the Penang Opium & Spirit Farm. The mansion was sold to the Lim Lean Teng Foundation after World War II.

Among its other notable uses was as a film set for the 2002 Hong Kong movie The Touch starring Michelle Yeoh , and in the 1995 movie Beyond Rangoon starring Patricia Arquette and Frances MacDormand.

The mansion is a classic example of Straits Eclectic style featuring an Anglo-Indian bungalow structure with European architectural features and fittings like Scottish metalwork. It was a time when Western-educated Chinese tycoons flaunted their wealth in ostentatious homes.

Meanwhile, there will be those who mourn the passing of the former Cathay Hotel. Its last Tripadvisor review was in 2015. While some decried its thin sheets and saggy mattresses, the hotel garnered a loyal following because of its grandeur.

“This hotel has a charm all of its own,” said a Tripadvisor reviewer in 2011. A Norwegian guest who stayed there for three consecutive visits said “you can still feel the grandeur” that this place once had. A 2008 review in The New York Times rated it six stars for its character, with the reviewer describing it as a “magnificent pile” and the stay there “literally in the heartbeat of Penang’s Chinatown” – with “pedicab drivers snoozing at the doorstep”, temple incense drifting through the open windows and “fishy-sweet smells of Hokkien mee and char kway teow from the hawker stall across the street”.

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The 50-50 joint venture between the group’s Singapore-incorporated subsidiary Perennial Penang Pte Ltd and IJM Land Berhad will turn the site into what it describes as “Penang’s first mega integrated waterfront icon” with “retail, entertainment, recreational, residential, business, hospitality and Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions components”.

When ready, the 1.4 million sq ft waterfront site in Gelugor town along Penang’s eastern coastline will be converted into a complex housing a shopping mall, thematic shops, residential towers, an office tower, two hotels with more than 750 rooms, as well as a convention centre, spanning across 4.1 million sq ft in total gross area.

In close proximity will be landmarks such as the first and second Penang Bridges, and Phase 1 of The Light Waterfront Penang, a residential development by IJM Land. The total development cost is estimated to be more than 3 billion ringgit (S$1.1 billion).

The waterfront integrated mixed-use development will be jointly managed by the two partners and is expected to complete in phases, starting from 2018.

PREH’s chief executive officer Mr Pua Seck Guan said the prime sizeable development offers “a unique opportunity to establish a one-stop retail-cum-lifestyle destination imbued with the life and spirit of Penang’s cultural heritage”.

He also expressed his confidence in turning it into “one of the finest waterfront integrated precincts in Penang that will appeal to both locals and tourists” considering both partners’ “complementary expertise and experience in developing and managing large-scale integrated commercial developments in China and Singapore”.

Mr Pua added: “The joint venture in Penang also marks the Group’s first foray into a new market which will augment our existing business in core markets of China and Singapore and diversify our investment portfolio to generate sustainable returns over the longer term.”

Chief executive officer and managing director of IJM Corporation Berhad Mr Soam Heng Choon believes the development will boost Penang’s tourism and economic standing.

“The development of the integrated waterfront city will transform the waterfront landscape of Penang and will further position the state at the forefront among investors and tourists,” he said.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 22 Apr 2015

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This comes as both governments take further steps to strengthen their trade and investment links.

Situated near Penang’s Bayan Baru Free Industrial Zone, the S$500 million project, called BPO Prime, will offer some 1.6 million square feet of commercial and residential space, with the former targeting at business process outsourcing.

It will be planned and managed by Economic Development Innovations Singapore, with groundbreaking slated for next year. Construction will take two to three years.

This is one of the two projects that Temasek and PDC agreed to develop in Penang in a memorandum of understanding signed in May. The other project is the Penang International Technology Park, and both will total to S$4.4 billion in development value.

Mr Lim, who was in town today for a Penang investment seminar, said: “Penang’s outsourcing sector saw more than 20 per cent increase in revenue last year. BPO Prime is a priority project that is part of the state government’s plans to transform Penang into an international outsourcing hub.”

The MOU came as Singapore’s investment into Penang grew ten-fold to more than MYR600 million (S$234 million) between 2012 and 2013. Mr Lim said he’s hopeful for that figure to grow much further, as Penang’s skilled labour and manufacturing clusters can complement Singaporean companies’ regional expansion.

Source : Today – 14 Oct 2014

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Andaman at Quayside is sited on 21 acres of the final, most-prime plot on E&O’s acclaimed world-class masterplanned development, Seri Tanjung Pinang, with 75% of all suites meticulously aligned to provide unobstructed views of the sea and the famous Gurney Drive.

Featuring a 4.5-acre signature waterpark and clubhouse surrounded by an additional 6.9 acres of tropical gardens along with a world-class retail enclave, Andaman at Quayside offers lifestyle and entertainment experiences by-the-sea.

Mr. Eric Chan, Deputy Managing Director of E&O, said, “We conceptualised Andaman at Quayside to celebrate the best facets of island living in Penang. Imagine being greeted by the spectacular views of the sea each morning as you awake, hearing the sounds of the waves rushing to shore – these are gifts of nature you can enjoy from the luxurious comfort of your own Andaman home. In addition, the Andaman at Quayside sits within Penang Island’s largest seafront development and most sought-after residential address. It is a stone’s throw from clusters of bungalows and villas, as well as a seafront retail precinct, marina and multi-level entertainment complex.”

The property is set to draw investor demand beyond Malaysia; attracting those looking to invest in a luxurious seafront property with attractive pricing and rental yields.

Units range from a spacious 1,128 square feet (sq ft) for a 1-bedroom sea-facing studio to the expansive 4,755 sq ft penthouses. There are also 1+1, 2 and 3-bedroom suites at 1,188 sq ft, 2,047 sq ft, and 2,776 sq ft respectively. Savvy overseas buyers and investors will find the pricing of Andaman to be extremely attractive, especially with the current favourable exchange rate, enabling them to enjoy unattainable value for a similar-sized condominium in any neighbouring seafront development.

Apart from competitive pricing, the project’s interest-absorption scheme offers another incentive for investors seeking to get a slice of vibrant Penang’s property pie with just a 10% initial down payment, while the availability of up to 90% financing (subject to eligibility) makes it even more attractive.

“A project of this calibre represents a blue-chip investment in good as well as volatile times. Affordability, investor-friendly policies, and the opportunity to own a freehold property are also what make it a viable investment,” said Chan.

Designed by GDP Architects, one of Malaysia’s foremost and multiple-award winning architectural firms, the Andaman Series boasts eight meticulously planned layouts, offering a range of living choices to match each and everyone’s personal preference. From expansive penthouse suites with tension-edged lap pools draped over the horizon to spacious 3-bedroom suites for larger families and chic 1-bedroom units designed for the modern jet setter, each one offers the perfect setting from which to claim one’s private piece of the Andaman Sea.

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