We’ve had a few reader requests for tours of Bukit Timah landed enclaves, and what with the recent en bloc sale of the 999-year leasehold, 2-storey Cold Storage Jelita mall (with a plot ratio 2.2), for $91.68 million in November 2023 (higher than the $85 million asking price), I thought it’d be interesting to take a look at the Jalan Jelita landed houses.
Since one of the key highlights of this estate is the proximity to Cold Storage Jelita, let’s start our tour there. (The other selling point is the fact that it’s within 1 km of the popular Henry Park Primary School.)
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The houses here are, to no one’s surprise, on the larger side. (I only saw semi-Ds and detached houses.) If I turn around, I can see Cold Storage Jelita from here.That’s Cold Storage Jelita (the red building) so definitely within walking distance!Almost directly opposite Cold Storage Jelita is Jalan Tenang: here’s a sneak peek down the road. Note the single white line on the road - probably drawn to discourage patrons of Cold Storage Jelita from parking here.First hour parking at Jelita is free anyway, so this shouldn't really affect the area too much. Walking up towards the main road.Across the main road (Holland Road) is Maryland Drive and Ming Teck Park, which we visited a while back. On the left is the taxi entrance for Cold Storage Jelita (so taxis will have to turn into Jalan Jelita before they can pick up/drop off customers at Cold Storage.)
However, there shouldn’t be too much impact on the residents of the estate as there are 2 vehicular exits/entrances to the Jalan Jelita landed enclave. (Very generous given the small number of houses here.)
This is the view to the left. Normally Holland Road can get quite busy but it’s quite empty today, for some reason.View to the right. That’s Six Avenue across the road. As you can see, Holland Road is a major one, so road noise may be an issue for the properties closer to the main road. If you walk about 20 minutes in this direction, you’ll reach Ghim Moh market. The hawker centre here is one of the better ones in the West.To the left, there’s a bus stop and an overhead bridge to help you safely cross Holland Road. Buses 7, 61, 75, 156, and 165 stop here.Jelita Shopping Centre, to be honest, doesn’t have the most exciting shops. The most useful shop is probably Cold Storage. Other than that, there’s a Times, medical centre, party shop, Mister Minit, toy shop, and hardware shop. As for eateries, there’s a Starbucks and Delifrance but both have dismal ratings of under 4 on Google (at least at the time of writing.)
However, as mentioned in the introduction, the mall has recently been sold. Given that, it’s currently 2 stories high but with a plot ratio of 2.2, it seems not unrealistic to assume that some redevelopment may be coming, which could bring better shops and infrastructure to the neighbourhood. (Mind you, if any redevelopment does take place, there will also be a heinous amount of noise and dust for the next few years.)
Behind Jelita shopping centre, there’s a Caltex (also zoned 2.2 on the Masterplan, FYI.) This is the only petrol station I’ve seen with a Bubble Tea store! (There’s also a convenience store but I don’t think residents will need it since there’s the 24-hour, bigger Cold Storage next door. It’s one of the bigger and better Cold Storages in the area.)
Note that the Caltex is located after the turn-in to Jalan Jelita so it’ll be more efficient for residents to pump their petrol when heading out, and not when returning home.
If you continue walking down this way, you’ll soon reach the Holland Road entrance to the Rail Corridor, followed by Henry Park Primary School. (There’s another entrance to the rail corridor inside the Jalan Jelita estate.) The school is very close to Jalan Jelita but positioned such that the school pick-up/drop-off traffic should not cause too much of a disturbance for residents.
Okay now that we’ve seen the amenities near the estate, let’s head back in to see what the houses are like!
This is where we were before we headed out to the main road: Jalan Tenang to the left, Jalan Jelita right ahead.As mentioned, even the semi-Ds here are sizeable and some look like they could potentially be split into 2 detached houses.Some look pretty impressive.However, despite the big houses, the estate doesn’t feel very spacious. (The houses tend to be quite built-up - as in built close to the boundary of the property- so there isn’t much space between the various properties.)Am I the only one who feels that the properties are very close to each other?Another thing that I noticed is that, despite this being a “posh neighbourhood”, the majority of the houses were still in a vintage style. (I’m not saying the houses aren’t nice, but just pointing out that relatively few have been rebuilt.)Personally, I’m a fan of timeless styles like this one!This is one of the few modernised ones that I saw. Do you prefer modern or vintage houses?In fact, there was a higher-than-average proportion of houses here that were still in single-storey condition! (i.e. lots of room to optimise the plot ratio.)Another example (house is behind the green hedge.) You can compare it to the house on the right to see how much higher you can build.Third example - have I made my point yet?Zoomed out so you can see how the single-story building looks in comparison to its neighbour. As you can see, there’s lots of room for it to grow! (Also note how close the house behind is - as mentioned, despite the larger plot sizes here, the estate didn’t feel super spacious to me.)
Earlier, the road we saw didn’t allow street parking. However, when you walk inside the estate, the line turns to a dotted white line, so it’s possible for friends and family to park outside when visiting.
Here’s what the road situation is like. As you can see, most of the street-side parking spaces have been taken, despite this being office hours on a weekday (when you would expect most people to have driven out to work.) I do appreciate how everyone parked on the same side of the road though!Some No Parking signs.This street is quite empty though, so it shouldn’t be too difficult for your guests to find a space to park (barring public holidays and festivals. I don’t see many rubbish bins used to reserve parking space, so I’m guessing parking isn’t in too short a supply.)This was the only instance.Another thing I noticed was that, like Ming Teck Park, the pavements here tend to be narrower and a little hard to traverse.They’re not very wide, and usually blocked by pots, or trees, as shown above. If you want to walk around your neighbourhood, you may have to do it on the same road as the cars, instead of on the pavement. Of course, you’re super close to the Rail Corridor and this neighbourhood doesn’t get much through traffic so it may not really be an issue for most people.Some of the houses are also ever-so-slightly elevated above street level. Slightly sloping driveway.
We’ve seen most of the estate now - I do have more photos of the houses and the roads, but it’s pretty much more of the same, so I won’t bore you with them. Instead, let’s have a look at the Master Plan before we go.
Here’s the Master Plan.
The blue areas are Jelita Shopping Centre and the Caltex. As mentioned, right behind the landed estate is the Rail Corridor (the green bit.) Something to note is that there are a few plots of land that are “subject to detailed planning” close to Jalan Jelita, which could change the feeling of the neighbourhood in the future. If Jelita Shopping Centre, for example, builds up to its 2.2 zoning, it would be one of the only higher-rise buildings in the immediate vicinity which could potentially change the feeling of the area. (Bukit Timah and Holland are known for being home to landed houses and “more exclusive.”)
This brings us to the end of today’s walkabout. How did you find the area? Let me know in the comments!
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TJ’s interest in property was sparked after returning from the UK- where balconies are not counted in one’s square footage!- and finding that the Singapore property had totally changed in the 7 years she was away. When not reading and watching articles & videos about property, she is busy cooking and baking for friends, family & her blog Greedygirlgourmet
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