*updated at 19th October 2010 - 8.30am*
Further to some interesting comments and remarks, okay I guess we may not necessarily need to tear down Victoria Institution then. Keep it as a heritage - but do shift the school out. The VI premises can perhaps be turned into a nice 'clubbing' area? What do you think?
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In the Budget 2011 that was announced last Friday, our PM Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that the proposal to construct a 100-storey tower, called Warisan Merdeka at a cost of RM5 billion at the current Stadium Merdeka and Stadium Negara site, currently owned by PNB.
Malaysians over the country and perhaps even the world are having a big buzz over it. In fact, some have even taken further action with a Malaysians Reject 100 storey Mega Tower page on Facebook!!! While everyone is against it, I for one is super excited and positive about it!!! There has been some further news and information regarding this proposal - our Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen came out and say some good words too - saying that it'll be a catalyst for tourism.
To me, in my honest opinion, and from an economist point of view - I think it is about time that the Government developed this part of town. I think that this is perhaps one of the best ideas to come out so far (apart from the MRT and those new highways as well) - in the past, the Government announced new developments all over the place, some being so far out, and some just dont sound right! To be a true metropolis, we have to have a more saturated development planning - instead of having many many many satellite cities and towns.
Anyways, I shall not comment too much on that. Instead, I want to talk about... WARISAN MERDEKA! =)
This... is the subject site. Can you see the Stadium Merdeka and Stadium Negara?
This site is somewhat on elevated grounds, and is easily connected through Jalan Maharajalela and Jalan Hang Tuah. Public transport wise - you have the Hang Tuah station as well as the Maharajalela LRT stations. Pretty convenient!
I think the development may somewhat look like this (refer below random sketch).
The Warisan Merdeka (I believe it will be at the Maharajalela-Hang Tuah intersection).
The site may be pretty large at 7.2 hectares surrounding the two stadiums. The two stadiums are expected to be preserved as heritage buildings, but it will be quite an interesting development and concept to see how they integrate with the stadiums. For RM5 billion - I believe we'll be seeing the likes of Cesar Pelli or Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in action here.
While many people are rejecting the idea outright, my only concern is... WHY SO SMALL??? Seriously, why not expand further? See the sketch below...
This is the subject site and its surroundings.
If it was me, I think I will integrate it further and expand the whole development to a much larger scale integrated development. I have been born and bred and brought up in Kuala Lumpur practically all my life - and I am quite familiar with this part of town. My dad all the more lah. I see a lot of older buildings and areas - that perhaps, we should look at relocation to expand the land further. I think it is about time the SK Jalan Davidson and perhaps, even Victoria Institution to be shifted out of here. =) The Masjid Al-Bukhary is pretty new - so no point moving it then. But the schools should move, even the police station as well.
If it was me, I would expand the whole development - and make it look like this!
A much more massive development! =)
The black boxes indicates the Podiums.
The orange colour - hotels/hospitality etc.
The green colour - commercial developments, office suites, office blocks, SOHO etc. (mixed lah)
The indigo colour - residential elements.
The blue lines - indicate link bridges.
Click on the image and see the bigger picture.
The existing Stadium Merdeka and Stadium Negara sites are still maintained. I would propose for Stadium Negara to keep its existing function as a performance stadium. Stadium Merdeka meanwhile, perhaps to be converted into an open grass garden(?). The proposal perhaps see a building podium to be built around the stadium, and then build some commercial offices on top of it. Whats interesting here is that - we build over the LRT track, integrate in the two LRT stations, and then most importantly, link over to the Pudu redevelopment. Further north of the development, the police station - that should be shifted out and relocated away to make way for more development along Jalan Pudu.
The little square piece of land across Jalan Pudu (next to Berjaya Times Square) - get the developers to develop it - and then build a link bridge into Berjaya Times Square, and this side to the Pudu redevelopment. From the Pudu side, build the linkbridge over to the other side. All this - and then - at the top left of the image - note the linkbridge that links the entire development to Plaza Rakyat. This way - we're looking at more than 3.5million sqft of space. I think this whole massive integrated development would looking at a good 10-12million sqft of space.
Take this whole space up - add to the 7km shopping promenade as mentioned by PEMANDU's Idris Jala - that easily adds another 3km into the whole equation. And there you have it - Malaysia as the No.1 Shopping Haven for Asia Pacific. =)
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Anyways, back to the earlier part... so many Malaysians are planning to reject this development. Mmm... I dont know why they want to reject it so much - all I know is that, when its completed, all of these people who comment and make all kinds of negative remarks - will be queuing and be part of the massive congestion that is going into the new development.