Description

When it comes to event spaces, there is a range of choice from residential properties, shop-offices, or industrial lots, all the way up to purpose-built convention and exhibition centres that might be mistaken for malls – and the vast majority of them seem to be located in or around Kuala Lumpur’s congested core.

The aptly named Ideal Convention Centre (IDCC), located in Shah Alam’s Section 15, is an example of a purpose-built facility that doesn’t come with Kuala Lumpur’s traffic or high rental rates. The IDCC can fit up to 10,000 people in a theatre-seating arrangement within its 11 fully-carpeted, pillarless, and customisable halls – a number that is still unmatched anywhere else in Shah Alam at the time of this review. The next-largest alternative would be the Shah Alam Convention Centre (SACC), which maxes out at 3,000 people – located one kilometre away, on the other side of the Federal Highway.

Built at the cost of RM200 million in 2014 by Kasmuncak Holdings, the same company that recently acquired the land beneath Malaysia’s oldest A&W restaurant, the 11-hall convention centre measures a grand total of 93,355 sf and sits atop three floors of home furnishing stores adding to the site’s broad appeal.

The outlets on the three mall floors range in size between 264 sf and 8,777 sf – suitable for retail or wholesale shops at the competitive rental rate of RM5 per square foot when IDCC first opened to the public in late-2014.

A five-storey carpark, with a capacity for 2,167 personal vehicles to be parked for free, is another feature that makes the IDCC one of the most preferred event spaces in Shah Alam. In the unlikely event that a particular convention brings more vehicles than can fit inside the car park, IDCC sits less than 100 metres from another five-storey carpark that acts as a buffer against illegal street-side parking.

Drivers heading west on the Federal Highway through Shah Alam will undoubtedly be familiar with the 3-acre site rising just 50 metres from the side of the roadway. The IDCC’s unmistakeable top rim, decorated with red and yellow cladding panels in the colours of the state capital, becomes visible as the treeline thins out a few hundred metres from the exit to the Shah Alam Expressway (E5) – which makes finding and reaching the venue in time for an event even easier.

In case dignitaries or attendees need to be put up in a hotel the night before an event, the IDCC is adjacent to a business-class hotel located at one end of the site. The 206-room Pegasus Hotel features modern interiors decorated with bright colours and circular motifs to echo the home furnishing offerings of the mall.

A 15-storey office tower, with each floor measuring around 7,000 sf, is situated at the other end of the IDCC. In addition to various private enterprises taking advantage of the competitive rental, some providing ancillary services for the organisers of events at IDCC, the office tower also hosts a Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja (KWSP) branch.

While restaurants are fairly limited within the IDCC itself, there are several blocks of low to mid-density commercial spaces providing a wider range of food and beverage options, in addition to banks and vehicle services, within a radius of half a kilometre around the IDCC, to meet the needs of event attendees and residents living in the area.