no i dont recall MS keep anything retail shops in their project either. by far i know they are holding icon city tower 5 as their asset only.

The retail lots are actually meant for sale right from beginning. In fact the frontage ones are sold as 7- and 8-storey enblocs. These were known as the 30 Jewels last time. My personal opinion is that the design of the retail shops have a rather short width frontage.

The rest of the retail shops are those formerly known as "Gourmet Street" and central park shops with alfresco space. Those are meant for sale as well while the developer leaseback some, or rather most, of the units for their leasing team to work on since the vacant possession. Hopefully the many retail tenants will be confirmed soon and come in.

The Level 1 retail carpark, Level mezzanine and Level 2 carparks and two basement level carparks are also sold to Pelaburan Hartanah Bhd as a carpark investment. Total = 1,967 bays.
http://www.phb.com.my/carPark.html

During my time there when they haven't installed the autopay system, PHB outsourced to a third party carpark operator to operate the carpark on their behalf who is charging RM5 per entry. This means most people do not park inside the carpark levels, they just park at visitor carparks. Hopefully when they start the autopay system, the rates will come down accordingly by hourly.

This joint venture for the proposed mall refers to Phase 2 which is not built or launched at all yet. Not the existing Icon City (Phase 1: 5+2+1 blocks). It's clearly mentioned in the article. There is no mall in Phase 1.
There is another 10 acres vacant land next to Icon City earmarked for Phase 2, which now includes the future developer HQ block. My prediction is Phase 2 is planned for 2019 onwards.

Hope there is no confusion between Phase 1 and Phase 2. All these while the retail mall is for Phase 2.

back in 2011, everything was rosy...if the property prices can ride on 2011 sentiments for the next 10yrs, am sure MS will surely open the mall 'not long' after completion of phase 1.

now its a hard fact the malls are truly and overly supplied in KV. it will be committal suicide if MS proceed to open the mall in the next 2-3 years.

same thing with BBCC TRX BDR MALAYSIA all comes with malls.....if you believe in their vision and execution...then part your hard earned cash in these projects.

when the economic turns south....got mall could hurt the apartments too.

The central pattana mall is mostly exploring stage. It didn't happen.

Today, a property does not necessarily will do well with a mall, even with a mall that has some footfall.

The secondary market is based on demand and supply factors, needs-based factors, affordability factors and the comparative benchmarking sense, ie where else can I get a property of similar price.

all said and done - the quality of my unit is very good. i only had ONE complaint - water mark above toilet bowl which i hope is easily rectified.

i'm impressed with their customer office, management office, overall quality of materials used, the park landscaping and even the underground carpark isn't HOT like many other malls - the airflow is good.

not interested in all the punting comments i.e. this will fail because 1,2,3 or this will be a success because 1,2,3 - what's important to me is the finishing is good (not sure other blocks - i'm in T2 residence) and i'm OK with the price I paid.

i'm playing the long game - so i know in 10-15 years once I've paid off the loan, the rental cashflow will be decent. to all owners, let's work together to make it a good place - JMB will be an important next step.

I have made a simple calculation based on assumptions you have using the rate of return evaluation of free cash flow.
It turns out the investment will be at a loss of rate of return 1.23% per annum if the property price is to sell at 30% increase price only after 15 years. The reality is that if the loan interest is at 4+% a year, the increment of capital price should be more than bank interest of 4% and additional of another 3 to 3.5% of inflation to each year, which means increase of property price should be at 7-8% with a quick calculation. Should  price increment is less than that, the investment will be at a loss and bank earns the investment returns from that property.
The IRR should be above the inflation rate or the fixed deposit rate or any bench mark % if this cash were to use in another investment which could fetch a certain %, e.g opportunity cost.

Something to share.