Property agents will tell you the obvious Atria advantages like Location (yes, we can stroll to the beach, and there are great facilities and schools nearby).
But for those of us already lucky enough to live here, we take for granted the unique advantages of Atria:
1) Exclusive
Where else would you find a single block condo, and only 158 units? New developments have several blocks built close together.
2) Convenience
For drivers:
- bypass any congestion quickly -- escape from the many small roads
- car park is never a problem (unlike most new developments)
For non-drivers:
- many bus (Mountbatten & Fort Road -- you can get to town quickly via ECP or Nicoll Highway
- shuttle buses to Parkway Parade & Leisure Drome
- taxis easily available (unlike on many other roads)
3) Great design
- We never have to wait long for the lifts.
- The internal space is sensible (unlike new fancy and impractical developments).
Why would we sign away such a wonderful place to live?
This is Home, truly.
Do you love Atria? Please drop us a line (or lines) to say why -- does not matter if you are owner or tenant, so long as you love staying here.
Yes, I have to say I agree with these sentiments. I like living in The Atria – for all the reasons listed but also because it seems to compare so favourably with more recent blocks where many of my friends live. There, lots are smaller, units tend to be frequently overlooked by other units, average internal space is much smaller, and everybody is competing for parking space. We are very lucky here and I am not at all surprised that the take-up rate of signing the CSA is so slow.
ReplyDeleteForgive my cynicism, but I do sense it is slow. Whenever I receive a circular from a marketeer that resorts to hyperbole – “overwhelming response from owners” and “tremendous success so far” – I smell a rat and assume the opposite must be true. I believe we have had four EOGMs so far and that none attracted attendance from even half of The Atria shareholders – despite the super-aggressive collection of proxies by a single unit which obviously has a strong private agenda here. Indeed, take away the proxies and attendances were more like a third of shareholders. And now I believe we have had five CSA signing sessions – all aggressively promoted by personal contact – and the total signings remain less than one third. This sounds distinctly underwhelming to me.
I suspect most shareholders believe the obvious – that this is not the time for our building to go en bloc. Even in cramped Singapore, The Atria has at least another 10-15 years of productive life before we need think about how to replace this wonderful building.