- Colony will be launching a new expansion for their serviced working space in Eco City, KL.
- Once completed, it will span 20,000 square feet across five floors, with one whole floor as a dedicated events space.
- Timothy Tiah wants the space to uniquely stand out on its own, while still retaining the branding of luxury that the space is known for.
In July last year, Timothy Tiah and Audrey Ooi embarked on a mission to change the way that Malaysians relate to the office experience. This culminated in the launch of Colony, a luxuriously designed serviced office space just a short jaunt away from Pavilion KL.
Unlike many co-working spaces, Colony’s focus veered strongly towards servicing guests instead of building communities. Part of these efforts include a happiness fund granted to each Colony employee to make a guest’s day.
“I think we’re not there yet in terms of where we want to be in hospitality. So I think we’ll see improvements as we go along and by then I expect it to be even better,” said Timothy.
9 months down the road, profitable and with monthly revenue growing 300% since their first month, the team thinks that they’re ready to launch a second location.
One key theme: everything is bigger.
Colony Eco City should be completed in June this year, spanning 20,000 square feet across five floors. It will also have some of the iconic features from its predecessor—nap rooms, massage rooms, nursing rooms, a kids’ area, and an in-house café, among others.
Note: The following images are renders, and not actual photos of the space.
By the end, he would have spent an estimated total of RM4.6 million to renovate the space into Colony 2.0.
Colony Eco City will be able to house 300 guests in “Colony’s iconic monochrome designs and signature chic interior”.
“We’ve learned from so many mistakes from the café in the first one being a little too small. We totally underestimated the demand for seats during lunch hour.”
One of Colony Eco City’s 5 floors will be a dedicated event space—an entire floor that is able to host up to 250 pax at a time.
The event space and accompanying offices will have a panoramic view of KL throughout the entire space.
Timothy sees Colony as the St Regis of co-working spaces.
“We challenge ourselves to design each new one to be even more beautiful than the predecessors,” said Timothy.
“I think it’s important for us to share a common subtle theme but be different enough that people will want to visit each new one as it opens. We challenge ourselves to design each new one to be even more beautiful than the predecessors.”
Based on the renders, it seems like the new Colony’s work areas will feature similar designs, though they will also be putting focus into building more ergonomic workstations too.
Unfortunately, this space will not include the pool and gym access that were one of the perks of the first Colony, though Timothy is looking at a potential collaboration with a nearby gym.
The renders provided to give us a glimpse into what the space will finally look like. But Audrey, who designs the space, is still adding finishing touches to the aesthetic.
Why Eco City?
Previously, it was hinted that the next locations would either be in Sunway, Mid Valley or KLCC. So we were a little surprised that the final location was none of the above.
But Timothy revealed that he’s actually counting on some predictions.
“I think Eco City is going to be the next business and leisure hub of KL. The largest Jaya Grocer is opening there, with a KTM and LRT station. With connectivity to Mid Valley once the bridge is built, I’m confident the area will take off,” explained Timothy.
Currently, Eco City contains an integrated rail hub comprising of both an LRT and KTM stop, new link bridges and ramps that lead to Federal Highway and NPE, and connectivity to major hubs like Bangsar, Midvalley City and Damansara.
The new Colony will also offer access to a lot of retail options, and is close to the new Masjid Jamek Abdullah Hukum mosque.
“The risk I’m taking though is on when it will take off.”
Since they planned for an initial burn, they’ll be fine if it takes off within a year. But if the launching point does come 5 years down the road, then the team may have to rethink their overall investment thesis.
“In fact, I don’t even think I’ll be the only co-working space there. We may be the first, but I’m sure there will be many that who will open when it’s more developed.”
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Rather than building Colony’s second location in the tried and true saturated areas, this time around Timothy and Audrey are taking a different risk by jumping into an unproven location with tonnes of potential.
Their first location has already shown itself to be a hit, and with that track record behind them, they can afford to be a little more adventurous. Crucially, they seems to be keeping to the key elements of their first.
Co-working seems to still be well on the rise in Malaysia, and this looks like an ambitious step towards Timothy’s vision to transform this region’s offices into hubs that promote work-life balance where people actually enjoy the experience of being at work.
- If you’d like to find out more, you can reach out to Colony at their website here, or email them at ask@colony.work.
This article was written in collaboration with Colony.
Feature Image Credit: Colony
