The Bedrock @ Jesselton Docklands

This is the question to settle before anything else, and the answer may be no even if you can afford it. The developer’s own page describes the product as commercial suites. The Bar Council Conveyancing Practice Committee’s state table records Sabah’s commercial threshold as RM1,000,000 and adds a condition that does not appear for residential: it is restricted to foreign companies incorporated in Malaysia, including property intended for tourism use. On that reading, an individual foreign buyer cannot take title to a commercial suite in Sabah at any price — only a Malaysian-incorporated company with foreign ownership can.

There is a second layer. For Sabah residential property, the same table records a minimum purchase price of RM1,000,000, while a separate figure of RM600,000 for high-rise strata circulates widely and is attributed to a state circular I have not been able to read in text form. I am not going to pick between those two, and I am not going to pretend the commercial classification is settled either.

If you are not a Malaysian citizen — and remember that Malaysian permanent residents count as foreign interest for this purpose — the only responsible sequence is: get the developer to state in writing which title category your unit falls under, then obtain a written ruling from the Sabah Lands and Surveys Department through a Sabah conveyancing solicitor, then pay a booking fee. Not the other way round.

Sabah does not use the National Land Code. Titles here are issued under the Sabah Land Ordinance (Cap. 68) as Country Lease or Town Lease, which is why a Sabah project talks about a term of years where a Peninsular project would say freehold or 99-year leasehold.

Neither official page publishes the tenure for this parcel. Third-party listings describe it as leasehold, but a listing site is not a title search. Ask for the title number, then have a Sabah conveyancing solicitor read the title itself — including any expressed conditions and any restriction in interest, which is where a transfer to a non-citizen gets blocked or permitted.

The developer does not publish either figure. The official Bedrock page has counters for total units, unit area and distance from the airport, and all three render as zero on the served page. That is a broken widget rather than a statement, but the effect is the same: there is no published number.

Figures circulating on marketing and listing sites include 1,080 units, towers of 27 and 25 storeys, a 6.15-acre site and built-ups from 351 to 700 sq ft. Those are agent-tier sources and I will not print them as facts on this page. They may well be correct. Ask the developer to confirm them in writing — the unit count and the storey count both appear on the advertising and sale permit, so the developer can produce them in a minute if asked.

The marketing pages say from RM5XXK, with the middle digits masked. A masked figure is a lead-generation device, not a price.

There is no published price list, no published price per square foot and no published payment schedule for this project. I get the live price list and the current stack availability from the developer’s sales team. Message me and I will send what is actually true this week, including which layout codes are still open.

Managed, on an opt-in basis. Guaranteed, no. The official page names ANTEL Hospitality, described as a member of Mana Mana Hospitality, as the in-house operator handling check-in, housekeeping, maintenance and concierge.

Then read the developer’s own footnote, which is easy to miss: additional services such as housekeeping and rental management are available only to purchasers who subscribe separately to Antel Group’s services. That is a separate commercial contract, with fees and terms that are not published anywhere on the site. Nothing on any official page promises a yield, an occupancy rate or a guaranteed return period.

Ask for the draft management agreement before you book, not after. The three numbers that decide whether this works are the management fee percentage, the minimum subscription term, and who pays for furniture replacement.

Not published. Neither the masterplan site nor EXSIM states a completion date, and I am not going to infer one from a photograph.

What is published is a dated site progress record: images filed under March 2026 and May 2026, with a further image filed under June 2026. Under the sale and purchase agreement, the completion obligation is expressed as a number of months from the date the agreement is signed. Ask for that number. It is the only completion date that binds anybody.

Nobody can answer that honestly today, including me. What can be said is what has been committed and what has not.

Committed and visible: the Bedrock parcel, with site photographs. Drawn but not committed: a cruise terminal and wharf, a ferry terminal, an inner marina, cultural islands, an amphitheatre, a wellness centre, an international school, corporate offices, water homes and a floating island park — eleven components across five precincts named Bedrock, Enclave, Reef, Tides and Holm, which spell BERTH.

The plan is by Snohetta, which is a serious practice, and a serious masterplan drawing is not a construction contract. Price the suite on what exists within walking distance today — the jetty, the convention centre, Suria Sabah, Gaya Street — and treat everything on the masterplan render as upside you have not paid for.

Three to budget for, and one open question. Stamp duty on transfer: since 1 January 2026 a flat 8% applies to non-citizens on residential property, and the legislation names service apartments and SOHO expressly. Whether an 8% residential rate or the ordinary ad valorem scale applies to a unit classified as a commercial suite is precisely the sort of question your solicitor must answer for your specific title — and it is the open question on this project.

Real property gains tax on exit: non-citizens pay 30% for a disposal in years one to five and 10% from year six onwards. There is no zero band, ever. The Bar Council circular also records a retention sum of 7% of the disposal price held back at the point of sale.

Financing: foreign buyers in Malaysia typically obtain 60% to 70% margin, and commercial-title stock usually sits at the lower end of that range, not the higher end. Add state consent costs and legal fees on top.

Not published, and on a building with a four-storey retail promenade, a rooftop pool, a boxing gym and a hotel-standard lobby team, this is not a small line item.

Two things to ask for in the same message: the estimated maintenance charge per square foot and, separately, how the shared facilities and the retail podium are apportioned between the suite owners, the hotel and the retail lots. In mixed-use buildings, that apportionment formula decides your monthly bill far more than the rate itself does. I will get both from the developer and send them to you with the price list.

No. The developer’s FAQ states that the retail lots at The Bedrock are not for sale — they are rental only, managed by BEDI, the developer.

For a suite buyer that has one practical upside: the podium stays under a single landlord rather than being split among dozens of individual shop owners, which usually makes the tenant mix easier to manage. It also means the apportionment question in the answer above matters — ask how the retail lots share the building’s running costs.

Not settled yet. The developer’s FAQ lists the pet policy as “to be confirmed”.

If a pet is part of your plan — for your own stay or for tenants — do not rely on a verbal yes. Ask for the policy in writing, and have your lawyer check what the deed of mutual covenant and the house rules eventually say, because those documents, not the sales team, decide it.