Would like to share recent findings on visit to subang Empire SOHO, one of the first SOHO in Malaysia and the most successful in terms of occupancy and is above a mall
Entrance is next to Madam Kwan of the mall. Got 2 security guards at lobby, need to give your ic and tell them the unit number and "name of company" u want to visit and noticed the guard wrote down these details in their log book
There were many "visitors" at the lobby and as we all went into the lift, one of the guard came over and press the floor level we were going to like for level 3, 4, 7 and 8. Guess they would not be investing in visitor card that is programmed to access the floor that the visitor want to visit hence the need for the guard to press for the visitors
I was at level 7 and walk from one end to the other end. At least 70% have signboard fixed at the door! meaning 70 % are also having business. The type of businesses are all sorts and include IT company, reseller of designer bags, law firm, surveyor firm, freight forwarder etc. The reseller of bags was opened on a Sunday afternoon...and there were many many "visitors" just on that floor going to this SOHO unit which is a famous company with thousands of followers on twitter that was selling own design bags, phone case, jewelery, apparels etc. Later I found out this "shop" is open to "public" on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 12.30 noon to 9.30 pm.
I can imagine that there will be a lot more visitors on weekdays when more of those SOHO are "open for business" not only on the 7th floor I visited but on other floors too.
I even notice that one of the SOHO unit has a CCTV camera, believed it is for the occupant inside to see the visitor before they open the door...doubt that u will see this in a normal condo or serviced apartment
To my surprise, the whole of level 8 was a Fitness First. So there are so many many visitors using the same lift to go to and leave this gym. Is it possible to obtain a license for a gym in a SOHO block?? No wonder the whole lift was full when I go up and when I go down.
To sum up, it was a real eye opener and leave it to u to assess. To me, if u are looking for a residence with home feeling and 70% of the units on your floor are "doing business", u may think twice especially I believed there will be loophole in the security with the heavy flow of "visitors". But for certain business operators, it may be a good venue suitable for their businesses.
The size of the SOHO unit that I visited was 797 sf
Thanks for such details sharing. Really quite surprise if fitness first is able to rent the whole floor. Between the soho unit u visited is for home stay or for business?