Originally Posted by
raetan
I went to see CSR recently. Honestly, the whole place feels very classy. The architecture and facade of the towers are modern & nice. It has a very impressive 3-storey clubhouse. It has a lift there that ferries you to the different levels. The 2nd floor houses the floating gym overlooking the main pool. It also has a games room with a billiard table, & not 1, but 3 karaoke rooms. The 3rd foor is a open terrace with several bbq pits. There is also a level that solely houses the 2-lane bowling alley. I must say the CSR clubhouse is top class, feels just like in a country club. Besides, there are very few condos nowadays that have billiard, bowling & karaoke. I mean, all these are great for family entertainment. Besides the clubhouse, other notable good points are the huge 50m main pool, and a spa pool to rejuvenate youself. Overall the whole place has a upper class feel to it and the facilities are top-notch. Unfortunately, the 2 tennis courts are soft ground. I play tennis and I don't know why is the developer building a soft playground-like compound for tennis courts. Don't they know that tennis courts should be standard hard court in Singapore.
After roming through the whole place, I thought that the land size is pretty decent but not really huge. I thought maybe there should be no more than 400 units for this type of land size. Imagine how shocked I am when I checked and realize that this is a 910 unit development. I am thinking how can this land size accomodate 910 resdents & friends? The facilities in this case are really short-changed for the residents. That's why I really do not like big developers because they only think of maximizing their profits till the last inch of the land space they have. They try to squeeze in a whopping 910 units with the kind of cramped space they have. Amazing, this CDL. Does anyone have the actual land size of CSR? I reckons it should not be more than 200,000 sq feet. To have a 910 unit development, the mall and the park should be part of CSR, so that the whole place will not feel cramped when all 910 units are occupied. An eg of how much the land should be is to look at Costa Del Sol. 906 units but at least it's on huge sprawling ground with minimart, laundry shop & DVD shop.
Now for the location. I want to give an unbiased opinion of this location. The only good point about this location convenience. It is just next to a mega mall with cineplex. This is convenience at its best. And imagine you can just catch a midnite movie and then just go to bed immediately after the movie. Cool. Other than the mega mall & MRT advantage , the rest are all negatives. It is flanked by 2 big main roads, Jln Besar & Serangoon Road, and another road Kitchener Road. Imagine noise level, air pollution, traffic jam. If you don't step out of CSR, it's ok. But once you step out of CSR, wow, what do see? Night-clubs, massage parlours, casket shops, tons of shops selling clothes, phone-cards, imitation goods aka bangkok street. And of course the swamp of people... I do not want to elaborate on this, lest being accused of racist etc. Honestly, you will not be surrounded by these if the location is any good. Of course I don't expect posh condos or landed properties as my neighbours since I am not paying D9, D10 or D11 prices. But at least in mass market heartland condo, I am only surrounded by HDB flats. Not so sleazy at least.
Overall, as in a Chinese saying, CSR is a fresh flower sitting in a cow's dung. It is a classy & stylish property sitting on a undesirable piece of land. If this property is shifted to D9, 10 or 11, it will definitely blends in well with the properties there. Another no-no is the sheer number of units. If only CDL thinks more for consumers instead of maximizing their profits, by halving the total number of units, then we will have a really good property here.