The wife and I
decided to "Go East" (again) last week to pay a visit to Amber
Skye - a freehold development located at the junction of Tanjong Katong South Road Amber Road China
Sonangol Land
and OKP Land
The sales gallery
for Amber
Skye, however, is located off-site at Tanjong Rhu Road Fort Road
Sitting on a
smallish plot of less than 41,000sqft, Amber Skye consists of a 22-storey
tower with a total of 109 units. The luxury project offers a selection of unit
types ranging from 1-bedders of around 500+ - 600+sqft to 6-bedroom "Grand
Villas", which are 3-level apartments of more than 5,000sqft located on
the ground floor.
Facilities-wise,
there is nothing very much to shout about at Amber Skye. This is
probably because of its small plot size, which limits the number of offerings.
The usual "bells and whistles" (gym, lap pool, dining pavilion) are
available but for a luxury project, one will probably expect more. Or maybe
those who can afford such apartment will have no lack of club membership, so
much so that there is no need for extensive facilities where they live?
Parking wise,
there are 112 lots - so it's one-lot-per-unit, except for the 3 Villas that get
2 private lots each.
The expected TOP of Amber Skye is 2017.
The expected TOP of Amber Skye is 2017.
Two apartment
types (2-bedder loft and 3-bedder) were on display at the sales gallery and we
will review the 3-bedder as usual. This is the 1,335sqft Type C1 unit.
The unit screams
of luxury from the moment you exit from the private lift (all apartments are
served by private lifts) into the private foyer of the apartment. As you walk
past the foyer, you arrive into the living/dining area.
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The living area is
rather good-sized but what we liked most is that there is proper segregation
between the living and dining area - the later is tucked neatly into a separate
space just in front of the kitchen entrance. However, the dining area space is
a tad small and will probably be a tad squeezed even with a 6-seater dining
table. Other than that, there is little to compliant about given that it comes
with very fine-quality marble flooring, rather high ceiling (apologies but we
forgot to ask exactly how high) and ducted air-con that are typically found in
high-end apartments. The balcony extend out from the living room and the
curved-shaped space encompasses one of the common bedroom as well.
The kitchen is separated
from the dining area by a set of sliding doors, which is an excellent
space-saving idea compared to a swing-door. it is a spacious rectangular space
that comes with beautiful floor tiles, ample high-quality cabinets and kitchen
appliances are from Smeg.
The yard and utility room are located at the end of the kitchen. The utility is a narrow strip of space that will probably require some customizing to fit a proper bed if you intend to house your helper here. But it does come with the largest set of windows that we have came across so far in any utility room so ventilation concern in here.
The yard area is
adequate for performing your normal laundry chores. The rubbish chute is
located here, which is a fair distance from the kitchen area - something that
OCD folks like ourselves will appreciate.
One unique
feature within the apartment is the provision of a "power room",
which is useful when you have guests around the house. And the quality of
furnishing and fittings provided - from the marble floor/walls right down to
the Bravat standing wash-basin and toilet fittings - raise the level of
classiness by a few notches.
The other unique
feature, again related to bathroom, is the fact that both common bedrooms share
the same bathroom. This provide a pseudo "en suite" feature to these
bedrooms, which the wife and I find especially appealing. Having said that, you
have to constantly remind yourself to lock BOTH doors within the bathroom to
avoid the embarrassment of having someone walking into you while you are taking
a shower (or a dump, for that matter).
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The two common
bedrooms are very good-sized by current standards - you can fit a Queen bed
easily and still have quite a bit of space around the rooms. All bedrooms come
with a dark-coloured timber flooring, which is a pleasant departure from the
usual light- or orangey-brown coloured ones that you typically find in other
projects.
The master
bedroom is rather huge - we're talking about a King bed plus a cabinet or TV
console in front of the bed and still there's plenty of space around the room.
You find another smaller balcony outside of your bedroom, which in our opinion
is not very practical. The master bedroom also comes with a walk-in wardrobe
lodged between the bedroom and the attached bathroom. This provides you with a
tad more than the usual 2-panel wardrobe space that you find in new
developments these days.
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The master
bathroom is again the epitome of luxury - one that you typically find in
5-stars hotels - but minus the long bath, which the wife and I have no issue
with. You get two sets of "His" and "Her" wash-basins,
2-toned marble floors and walls and a shower stall with large overhead shower.
Now to talk
price: The wife and I had stated from the onset that Amber Skye is a luxury
project. As such, you can expect a "luxury" price to go along with
the high-end quality of the apartment.
A unit of the
Type C1 (3-bedder) on the 6th floor is currently priced at $2.593 million. This
translates to around $1,942psf. A similar-sized unit on the 9th floor will set
you back some $2.77 million.
What we like:
1. Situation at the supposed primest area within District 15, you cannot go too wrong with Amber Skye if you subscribe to the notion of "location, location, location" when comes to home purchase. And as an added bonus, the development is also within walking distance to the future Amber MRT station.
2. The spacious and efficient layout within the apartment, coupled with the high-end furnishing and fittings, will probably give you lots of incentives to stay home.
3. The wife and I especially liked the concept of "powder room" and the "shared bathroom between the 2 common bedrooms" found in the 3-bedder unit.
What we do not quite like:
1. The plot in which Amber Skye stands is mostly blocked by other high-rise apartments (King's Mansion and Amber Point, just to name two). Even the marketing agent acknowledged that the "correct facing" units only get "pocket" sea or city views. So we reckon there is little point in going "high' when comes to unit selection and paying the premium but not getting any substantial view.
2. For a high-end project like Amber Skye, we are quite disappointed with the facility offering. Even the so-called lap pool is a tad shorter than 50m!
3. While the idea of private lift may seem appealing, the private foyer does eat into the total space of the apartment that you pay for. And from our prior experience with private lift/foyer, the combination of lack of ventilation and worn shoes can make for some rather "unique" smell within this area.
4. Prospective buyers with primary-school going children in 2017 or beyond may not be too excited about the fact that we can only identify one school that is likely to be within 1-km of Amber Skye - Tanjong Katong Primary. Consolation is that the school is at least co-ed.
1. The plot in which Amber Skye stands is mostly blocked by other high-rise apartments (King's Mansion and Amber Point, just to name two). Even the marketing agent acknowledged that the "correct facing" units only get "pocket" sea or city views. So we reckon there is little point in going "high' when comes to unit selection and paying the premium but not getting any substantial view.
2. For a high-end project like Amber Skye, we are quite disappointed with the facility offering. Even the so-called lap pool is a tad shorter than 50m!
3. While the idea of private lift may seem appealing, the private foyer does eat into the total space of the apartment that you pay for. And from our prior experience with private lift/foyer, the combination of lack of ventilation and worn shoes can make for some rather "unique" smell within this area.
4. Prospective buyers with primary-school going children in 2017 or beyond may not be too excited about the fact that we can only identify one school that is likely to be within 1-km of Amber Skye - Tanjong Katong Primary. Consolation is that the school is at least co-ed.
Our
parting shot
While the wife
and I are definitely impressed with the space and quality seen within the
apartment, we are not so when comes to the actual site (too much blockage) and
facilities of Amber Skye. But as we have mentioned previously, maybe the
richer folks who buy into such project are not really big on the facilities being offered within its grounds.
And speaking of rich, Amber Skye is definitely one project that is way too rich for
our veins...unless we hit the Toto jackpot tonight. And with the existing restrictions placed on property purchase, one can understand why the
project has been a hard-sell thus far...
I think the developer is holding out hoping that some cooling measures are rolled back at which point they would relaunch again with something like a 5% discount on the last price list.
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