Madison Park Apartments

by | Apr 15, 2020

Madison Park Apartments is a budget residential tower of 35 floors (1,200 units). Completed in 2016, it is located in Podomoro City, a private village owned by the conglomerate Agung Podomoro Land that includes Mediterania Garden 1 & 2, Royal Garden Mediterania, Soho Mall & Residence, Central Park Mall & Residence, and the Pullman Hotel.

It is a successful development, with a high rate of occupancy. This is mainly due to the strategic location, and the fairly good reputation of Agung Podomoro. A large portion of their customers is made of upper-middle-class Indonesian Chinese, particularly in Podomoro City.

Note that they are currently building a new tower called Grand Madison Park, which will be a more upmarket version of Madison Park.

I stayed in the latter for a few days and this is my honest review of the property:

Location

The location of Madison Park is rather strategic for both leisure and work. With normal traffic conditions, it is about 40 minutes from the airport and 35 minutes from Jalan Sudirman (the Central Business District).

Neighborhood

Jalan Podomoro Avenue from Madison Park

Podomoro City, where Madison Park is located, is a privately-managed village within Jakarta. It is a modern area that does not look at all like a typical Jakarta neighborhood. It is organized around the main street, Jalan Podomoro Avenue, from which you can access several malls and residential complexes.

In particular, you have the following:

Central Park Mall: A middle-class mall, popular with young people, with an outdoor area and a large number of affordable fashion shops (Sogo, Mango, Guess, Marks and Spencer, Pull & Bear, Topman, Stradivarius, H&M, etc.). Also a cinema, a supermarket, a gym, cafés, restaurants, bars, salons, banking and travel services, etc.

Central Park Mall

Neo Soho: One of the newest malls in Jakarta, it is connected to Central Park by a bridge. It is not too crowded at the moment and the main attraction there is the Central department store. There is also an aquarium.

Taman Anggrek Mall: It is not part of Podomoro City but you can reach it by foot in less than 10 minutes. It is a middle-class mall as well, very busy, with an ice-skating rink on its last floor. It also has a cinema and a gym.

Along Jalan Podomoro Avenue, there are even more shops organized in “rukos” and you can also reach a few more malls nearby in less than 10 minutes by car (for instance Ciputra Mall or Seasons City, both for low-to-middle income customers).

The location of Madison Park may also interest students. 4 large private universities are less than 2 kilometers away: Universitas Podomoro (within Podomoro City), Universitas Kristen Krida Wacana (UKRIDA), Universitas Trisakti and Universitas Tarumanegara. Note that all of these universities have a high number of Indonesian Chinese students.

There are not that many office buildings near Madison Park, except APL tower. If you are a young professional, this means you will probably need to go to the Sudirman area every day. On average, you will need at least 35 minutes (double if there are a lot of traffic jams).

The number of hospitals is limited too. The main ones nearby are specialized centers, such as Dharmais Hospital (Cancer), Harapan Kita (Heart Disease) or Grogol Hospital (Mental Illness). Hospital Royal Taruma is the closest one with multi-specialties.

Transportation

While the location of Podomoro City is strategic, its access is often difficult because of massive traffic jams near the toll gate exit and Jalan Podomoro Avenue entrance. You will also need to do a long U-turn if you want to go to Central Jakarta. Naturally, the worst time is in the morning or evening, when people go to or come back from work. It is also terrible on weekends, especially Sunday afternoon. Sometimes, you’ll need 30 minutes only to exit or enter Podomoro City.

Outside of peak traffic hours, it is relatively fast to go to several parts of Jakarta by car. The Jakarta Inner Ring Road is within a few minutes and it goes all around the city. The center of Jakarta (MoNas) can be reached quickly via Jalan Tomang Raya.

A way to avoid traffic jams is to take the Transjakarta busway. There is a stop in front of Central Park that you can reach in 10 minutes from Madison Park (you can go through Central Park Mall to avoid sweating too much). From there, you can take at least 8 different lines going to many important places in Jakarta (Pluit, Senayan, Karet, PGC, etc). You can also go to Grogol and take a train to Tangerang.

Toll Roads in Front of Podomoro City

Building Quality

Design and Architecture

The external appearance of Madison Park is not particularly nice. It looks like a massive concrete block with no distinctive features apart from a few gardens planted in some of the floors.

Madison Park Apartment

Madison Park Apartment Design

The design of common areas was surprisingly worthy of attention, especially near the reception. It looks rather elegant, which is important if you have guests and you want to make a good impression on them while they wait.

Lift Area near Lobby

Reception Madison Park

There are two entrances and two lobbies. Each has three elevators.

The set up of the apartments corresponds to that of a budget apartment building. The size of each unit is smaller than average, with particularly small bathrooms. Studios are between 15m2 and 18m2, 1-bedroom apartments between 24m2 and 30m2, 2-bedroom apartments between 44m2 and 54m2.

In the apartment floors, the corridors are painted in white, with basic tiles.

Lift Area Madison Park

Door Apartment Madison Park

There are two garden areas: 1 near the swimming pool, and 1 above the parking, between the towers. They are well-arranged and pleasant to walk.

Swimming Pool Madison Park

Garden in Madison Park

Building Materials and Finishes

Materials used seem to be of decent quality, especially in the common areas (swimming pool, lobby, reception, garden). The finishes were satisfactory.

Comfort

Facilities and Services

One of the best things about Madison Park Apartments is that the facilities and nearby services are plentiful. These are the main ones:

– A medium-sized, lagoon-shaped swimming pool. It is not too crowded on weekdays, but quite full on weekends. It is long enough for casual swimmers. The water temperature is warm and they have several sunbeds to relax.

Swimming Pool Madison Park Jakarta

Lounge Chairs Madison Park

– A kids’ pool with a playground attached to it

Kids Pool Madison Park

– An outdoor jacuzzi

Jacuzzi Madison Park

– A simple gym with basic equipment

Gym and Fitness Madison Park

– A basketball court

Basketball Court Madison Park

– Another kids’ playground

Kids Playground Madison Park

– A Ground Floor with many services (cheap canteen, laundry, car rental, interior design, etc). Many shops are still empty for the moment.

Services Madison Park

Shopping and Service in Ground Floor Madison Park

– An outdoor food court with Indonesian and Western food

Outdoor food court Madison Park

– A minimarket (Alfamart) – Open from 8am until 10pm.

Alfamart Madison Park

Atmosphere

I believe most residents in Madison Park are young people, often Indonesian Chinese. There aren’t very large apartments so the number of families is limited.

The atmosphere is busy, but not messy.

If you are an expatriate, you should know that there are few foreigners in this area, at least Caucasians. For them, Podomoro City is probably too far from their offices, international schools, embassies or expat hangouts.

Management

Maintenance

Madison Park is a brand new apartment complex and therefore I didn’t notice any issues with the maintenance. However, based on my experience and based on the management company’s reputation (Inner City, part of Agung Podomoro Land), you should expect the property to age significantly within 10-15 years.

Cleanliness

Madison Park was clean, at least in the public areas.

Security

Security guards are on duty 24 hours at both gates. There is also a 24-hour receptionist in each lobby. To access the lift area, you need an access card. CCTV cameras are placed in strategic locations.

Hospitality

Friendly staff.

Rooms and Prices

Prices at Madison Park may vary depending on the floor, the unit type, the room condition and the furnishings. Be aware that you may also need to pay the service charge, the IPL (Iuran Pemeliharaan Lingkungan), the parking, the electricity, the water, etc.

The apartment range varies from studio units (starting 15 m2) to 2-bedroom units (starting 54m2). On average, you will pay the following:

Studio Type (18m2) – Furnished:

  • Rental 1 Year: IDR 3M per month
  • Buy: IDR 600.000.000
  • Buying Price/Gross Annual Rental: 16.67

1-Bedroom Type (25m2) – Furnished:

  • Rental 1 Year: IDR 4,5M per month
  • Buy: IDR 900.000.000
  • Buying Price/Gross Annual Rental:16.67

2-Bedroom Type (54m2) – Furnished:

  • Rental 1 Year: IDR 6.5M per month
  • Buy: IDR 1.400.000.000
  • Buying Price/Gross Annual Rental: 19.44

Investment Potential

According to my calculations above, you need more than 16 years of gross rent to pay back the buying price of a studio or a 1-bedroom apartment. Even more for a 2-bedroom apartment. This is quite high for Jakarta and a sign that the property is overvalued.

This may mean that investors are expecting the rental price or the selling price to increase. I personally doubt it will happen, at least in a significant proportion.

However, it might be possible to achieve that with daily rentals in platforms like Airbnb. The location of Madison Park, combined with great facilities, makes it an interesting option for tourists. If managed properly, you could probably make IDR6-7M a month from a studio on Airbnb, double the amount you would get from renting it annually.

Address

Madison Park Apartments
Jalan Tanjung Duren Selatan RT.12/RW.6,
Grogol, West Jakarta 11470, Indonesia
Phone: +62 21 56955111

Madison Park Apartments
3.4 / 5 My Rating
{{ reviewsOverall }} / 5 Readers' Rating (0 votes)
What I Liked
- Brand-new, affordable property with many facilities
- Happening neighborhood with plenty of malls nearby, well-connected to the rest of the city
- Rental prices are still low (but buying prices very high)
What I Didn't Like
- Very small units
- Traffic jams in Podomoro City
Location
Quality
Comfort
Management
Value
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