The Thompson (Flora Tropika)

I felt like writing about houses today.

And houses in the prestigious Tiger Lane/ Thompson area, that is.

They are mushrooming like green grass after the rains. Not that I mean they are common or cheap like grass. Far from it.

I probably should have written about The Thompson first, as I believe it was The Thompson that kicked off the frenzied development activities in this area with their bungalows in a gated and guarded surrounding. Hot on its heels came The Enclave, the Somerset, Green Trees and Villa Gopeng.

And the revived low-rise condominium, Seven (though that is another species altogether). By the way, Seven is a rather spooky name if you've watched the movie of the same name starring Brad Pitt. Perhaps the developer didn't.

Back to The Thompson, by Taiko-Straits Developments Sdn Bhd.

The development started off as Flora Tropika, then along the way it morphed into The Thompson (with Flora Tropika tagging behind in less bold script), which I think is a cleaner, more to-the-point name than all these floral, tropical, green, woody names, don't you think?

Besides, one side of The Thompson is situated on Jalan Thompson (now Jalan Tun Dr Ismail), while the other side sits on Lorong Thompson (Lorong Tun Dr Ismail). So The Thompson makes sense.

The Thompson has its own clubhouse for residents and the usual green areas and playground. Each house has a land area ranging from 7,000sf to 12,000sf. I read from the Ipoh Echo that the houses now command a price above RM2 million! This must certainly be a milestone in the pricing for Ipoh houses.

If you take a drive along Jalan Kelab Golf and Jalan/ Lorong Thompson to view this development, you will see that the existing bungalows opposite The Thompson are very much larger. On average, the land size for each bungalow in this area is about 20,000sf!

So the Thompson houses look a little dwarfed, and The Thompson's front row on Lorong Thompson reminds me of rows of terraced houses in say, Bandar Utama in PJ.

It is an impressive housing project, no doubt, and successful to boot. Ipoh-ites are certainly well heeled theses days.
(pictures from 1malaysiaads.com)