THE VISION (Review)

District: 5
Location: West Coast Road
Address: 79 & 81 West Coast Crescent
Tenure: 99-years wef 25 June 2006
Developer: Grand Waterfront Development Pte Ltd (Subsidiary of Cheung Kong Holdings)

You have heard it all before about THE VISION: “The Icon of the West”, “Most Luxurious Condo in West Coast area” and not forgetting, “Bathrooms that cost 3 times more to built compared to a typical condo”.

Here are what you SHOULD know after our visit to the sales gallery last weekend.

The Good bits:
• Over 70% sold during VIP preview.

• 70% units will enjoy panoramic sea view that blends seamlessly with verdant greens.

• 5 –mins drive to Biopolis and One-North, 10-mins drive to Sentosa IR & Theme Park and Vivocity shopping and entertainment mall, 20-mins drive to Orchard, CBD & Marina IR and across the road from West Coast Park.

• Dedicated lift access to the Sky Paragon clubhouse on the 33rd floor of Tower 1 – you go “non stop” from ground level to the 33rd floor, which is a rather unique feature.

The “Not so good” bits:
• All 14 units of the 3-storey Strata Houses are fully sold.

• All but one unit of the 4-bedders are already sold – the remaining unit is on the ground floor facing a carpark.

• Both the penthouses are already sold (as far as we know).

• The supposed “Reserved seaview units” left in the 2 Towers (i.e. around 50 units comprising 2- and 3-bedders) are all facing the west sun directly or partially.

• Many of the units have odd-shaped balconies, living rooms and master bedrooms

• The bomb shelter for most units are located in the kitchen (instead of the yard), with some of the doors blocking the hob area when opened.

• The two showflats are “ID-ed” to their death in gaudy-looking designs – this is the first time we felt really uncomfortable making our rounds in a showflat.

• The marble used for the living/dining room flooring are non-standard in size – you get a mix of square and rectangular pieces interlaced with each other, which looked rather ugly in our opinion.

• The microwave oven is “built in” at the same height as the conventional oven, i.e. below the hob, which seems rather strange.

• The doors of the top-tier kitchen cabinet in the 3-Bedroom showflat are loose at their hinges – quite unbecoming of a project that supposedly prides itself for quality furnishings.

• The laminate finish on the wardrobe doors produce sharp edges while the colour combination left little to be desired.

• You get a “chandelier-like” set of lights in both the common and master bathroom, which most of the marketing agents sing about. However, the wife and I felt that it made the bathrooms looked tacky rather than elegant.

• And speaking of bathrooms, we really failed to see why they should cost 3 times more to build compared with other projects, as they certain did not look the part.

So, have we told you that we really dislike what we saw at the showflats of THE VISION?



There are two showflats on display at the sales gallery - a 1604sqft, 4-Bedroom unit (Type C) and a 1313sqft, 3-Bedroom unit (Type B3). The common features include:
• Ceiling height of 2.8m

• Marble flooring for the living/dining room

• Balcony/planter area of about 100sqft

• Kitchen that comes with homogenous tiles flooring, and equipped with “Smeg” induction hob/hood/oven/microwave/fridge and solid-surfaced kitchen worktop.

• Small strip of a yard

• “Toto” (USA) toilet and “Hansa” (Germany) bathroom fittings in all the bathrooms

• Common bathroom and attached bathroom in Junior Suite (for 4-bedders) do not come with rain-shower

• All bedrooms, especially the common rooms, are a tad small.

• The master bathroom has both a long tub and standing shower stall. The shower stall is installed with “Hansa” shower system with massaging and rain shower functions. It also comes with the “chandelier” that we have spoken about earlier.

• Ample wardrobe space in the master bedroom, although the quality of finish and colour scheme can certainly be better.



Pricing wise, a 1313sqft unit on the 16th floor of Tower 1 (#16-07) is priced at $1,313,053, which equates to about $1000psf. However, the marketing agent will try to get us the 3% discount that was previously given to “Early-Bird buyers” if we decided to purchase the unit. Monthly maintenance fee for the 3-bedder is around $390.

The marketing tagline for THE VISION is “See beyond what others see at The Vision”. Maybe the wife and I are just too myopic, as we really failed to “see beyond” the mediocre quality and apparent lack of consideration to the interior design of this project. So we find it rather puzzling that there was so much buzz generated for THE VISION, and stranger still that so many people were willing to fork out so much money to buy into THE VISION. Maybe $1000psf has really become the new “affordable” norm these days...

Click to view slideshow of THE VISION here: