Damansara Jaya is a township in Petaling Jaya, Petaling District, Selangor, Malaysia, situated in the Sungai Buloh mukim. Consisting of Section SS22 and SS22A, it covers an estimated area of and has an estimated population of 12,000 residents. In 2001, its recorded population was 8,450 residents.
The township consists of almost 2000 residential dwellings consisting of 1538 units of terraced houses, 179 semi-detached housing units, and 42 bungalows, alongside a main commercial area. Atria Shopping Gallery, originally called the Gardenia Town Centre for a brief period of time, is a shopping mall located in the centre of this commercial area.
The demographic profile of Damansara Jaya is characterized as predominantly Malaysian Chinese, with a significant number of upper middle-class property owners. Notable educational institutions within the township include Nobel International School (located on the former site of KDU College), SMK Damansara Jaya, and SK Damansara Jaya.
History
Damansara Jaya underwent development in the mid-1970s under the purview of Paramount Garden, a subsidiary of See Hoy Chan Sdn Bhd Group. Initially, it comprised Section SS22 of Petaling Jaya. Subsequently, in the latter part of the decade, Section SS22A was incorporated into Damansara Jaya, primarily consisting of bungalows and semi-detached homes. Construction activities commenced in 1975, and by 1978, the first occupants of Damansara Jaya settled into their newly completed double-storey terraced houses.
The Atria, a shopping complex in Damansara Jaya, was originally built in the mid-1980s and featured departmental stores like Kimisawa and Printemps. However, by the late 1980s, the complex went into decline due to recession. Ownership of the Atria changed hands several times throughout the years. In the early 2000s, the complex struggled to compete with newer and bigger malls nearby. Lien Hoe Corporation, the then-owner, decided to redevelop the space but faced challenges in retaining tenants. In 2007, OSK Property Holdings Bhd acquired the Atria and began a major redevelopment project. The original plan involved building a 33-storey office tower with a retail podium. This plan was later revised to a four-storey podium with two office towers. The existing complex was demolished in 2011 and the new development, known as Atria Shopping Gallery, reopened in 2015 with significantly more retail space and parking bays.
In 2007, a residential expansion took place with the addition of 14 units of three-storey semi-detached houses. Originally known as Aman Residency, the development was subsequently renamed Damansara Residensi upon completion. Genting Citra carried out the construction on leasehold land from 2005 to 2006. The area earmarked for this development was previously covered by secondary jungle. This development is a gated community situated behind SK Damansara Jaya, a national-type primary school.
In terms of recent residential property additions, OCR Land Holdings constructed four units of three-storey bungalows named Cloverton between 2012 and 2014, representing the latest housing development in Damansara Jaya.
Government Damansara Jaya is governed by the Petaling Jaya City Council (Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya, MBPJ). It falls within the city's Zone 5 administrative area, and is represented by a city councillor.
Damansara Jaya is also represented at both the national and state levels of government as part of larger federal and state constituencies. In the Parliament of Malaysia, the township is represented as part of the Damansara (P.106) federal constituency and is currently served by Member of Parliament Gobind Singh Deo. In the Selangor State Legislative Assembly, the township is represented by the state constituency of Bandar Utama (N.36) and is served by State Legislative Assemblyperson Jamaliah Jamaluddin, who was re-elected during the 2023 Malaysian state elections.
Political representatives +Parliament of MalaysiaParliamentYearsConstituency NameMemberPartyTownship developed by Paramount Garden3rd1971-1974DamansaraHor Cheok FoonDAP4th1974-1978PetalingOh Keng Seng5th1978-1982Lim Kit Siang6th1982-1986Yeoh Poh SanBN (MCA)7th1986–1990Petaling JayaEng Seng ChaiDAP8th1990–1995Kua Kia Soong9th1995-1999Petaling Jaya UtaraLim Kuo PhauBN (MCA)10th1999-2004Chew Mei Fun11th2004-200812th2008-2013Tony Pua Kiam WeeDAP13th2013-201814th2018–2022DamansaraPH (DAP)15th2022–presentGobind Singh DeoPH (DAP) +Selangor State Legislative AssemblyState Legislative
AssemblyYearsConstituency NameMemberPartyTownship developed by Paramount Garden7th1986-1990Damansara UtamaM. Madhavan NairDAP8th1990-19959th1995-1999Oon Hong Geok10th1999-2004Lim Choon KimBN (MCA)11th2004-200812th2008-2013Dr Cheah Wing YinDAP13th2013-2018Yeo Bee Yin14th2018–2023Bandar UtamaJamaliah JamaluddinPH (DAP)15th2023–present
Commerce In Damansara Jaya, commercial activity is primarily concentrated in two distinct areas - the Atria shopping complex and shop-lots located both around the Atria and beyond it. The Atria features a four-level shopping complex and accompanying parking buildings. The shop-lots serve as a local commercial hub, offering a range of shops, eateries, and services to the community.
The Atria
The primary commercial development in Damansara Jaya is the Atria, encompassing a freehold land area of . The complex consisted of a four-level shopping complex and two parking buildings with three levels each. Originally intended to accommodate a cinema, Atria began its operations in the mid-1980s with the opening of the Kimisawa and Printemps departmental stores. During the period between 1984 and 1985, traffic congestion became a common occurrence in Damansara Jaya, particularly on weekends when both the Japanese and French stores held sales promotions. These shopping complexes were highly regarded as "must-visit" destinations in Petaling Jaya, with other options such as Asia Jaya, Thrifty Supermarket, or Jaya Shopping Complex considered less appealing. The Piccadilly Disco, situated within Atria, was a social spot for teenagers and college students. The disco was known for its afternoon tea dances, as well as frequent police raids on the premises. However, the late 1980s recession led to the eventual closure of these three establishments. The discothèque, which had its main entrance on the side of the building, has since been replaced by other businesses. As of 2008, it now houses a language centre. Following the economic downturn, ownership of the complex was transferred to the Lion Group. Consequently, the former Kimisawa location was rebranded as the Parkson Grand departmental store, while Printemps underwent a transformation into the Atria Shopping Centre.
In the early 2000s, Lien Hoe Corporation assumed control of Atria. The supermarket within Parkson was successively taken over by Tops and then Giant in 2005. Subsequently, Parkson Grand ceased its operations and relocated to 1 Utama. The new owners made a decision to allocate additional space for redevelopment, resulting in the displacement of numerous longstanding tenants occupying mini shop-lots near the supermarket. These tenants were required to find alternative locations.
The opening of Tropicana City Mall (now renamed to 3 Damansara) in nearby Damansara Utama, as well as The Starling Mall, has introduced significant competition to the Atria's business operations.
In March 2007, Lien Hoe Corporation sold the Atria at to OSK Property Holdings Bhd. At the time, the ground floor stores at Atria remained operational, with its courtyard continued to house various traders offering a range of merchandise, including books and clothing. The Atria was redeveloped and reopened to the public in 2015.
Redevelopment In early 2008, OSK Property Holdings Bhd proposed to redevelop the Atria into a 33-storey office tower with a 4-level retail podium and a level basement car park. In January 2009, OSK proposed to redevelop the property into a more upmarket retail and commercial destination for residents of Petaling Jaya. The redeveloped modern shopping mall has gross lettable area of and also some low-rise shop offices. The development order was obtained in 2008 and the project began in the later part of 2010, with a potential gross development value of around RM 1 billion projected at the time to be realised by 2012.
On 14 April 2010, OSK Property announced at a company shareholders meeting that the development order had been endorsed and that the redeveloped Atria would feature a four-storey podium, two 18-storey towers, and an increase in parking facilities with over 2,000 bays available. The redevelopment was carried out by Atria Damansara Sdn Bhd and consisted of a four-storey podium and two 16-storey towers. On 26 April 2011, OSK gave three months notice to all the Atria tenants to vacate the shopping complex by 26 July 2011. OSK had apparently obtained updated approval from MBPJ to demolish the existing development and to construct in its place two 15-storey office blocks, a 4-storey podium incorporating a shopping mall, 2 levels of underground car park, and 4 levels of multi-storey car park. On 26 July, the Language House remained operating at the Atria due to a dispute involving the tenancy agreement between the Language House and OSK. The Language House departed from its Atria premises on 22 October, and subsequently re-commenced operations at Damansara Intan on 8 November.
Development signage put up in August 2011 indicated that the Atria would be demolished over a 6-months period. By then, the Atria complex, except for small section as access to the Language House, had been enclosed by metal hoardings. The initial loss of use of both the Atria multi-storey car parks had a significant impact on the availability of street parking bays. The car park building at the Atria main entrance was demolished by early September, followed by the demolition of the other car park building by mid-October. The demolition of the shopping complex proper begun after the departure of the Language House. By the end of 2011, the majority of the Atria complex had been demolished, including the façade of the old Parkson entrance, which disappeared within the following two weeks.
On 6 July 2012, OSK Property further announced that the company had appointed Beijing Urban Construction Group (M) Sdn Bhd as the main contractor for the project. The first phase to be completed was the four-storey podium shopping mall, while the remaining developments were targeted for completion by the end of 2013. This Atria redevelopment faced protests from Damansara Jaya residents.
On 28 May 2015, the Atria was reopened. The redevelopment created of retail space for lease and 1,830 parking bays housed in two levels of underground parking and five levels of multi-storey parking. The final phase of the Atria's redevelopment commenced during the third quarter of 2016, involving the redevelopment of two food stall complexes at Jalan SS22/19 and Jalan SS22/25. For this phase, metal hoardings were placed almost in the middle of the road along a section of Jalan SS22/25. Shoplots
Shoplots in Damansara Jaya can found in either the 4-storey shops surrounding the Atria or the older 2-storey Mewah shops behind Sri Nobel International School. More upmarket establishments such as banks (Maybank, RHB Bank, and Public Bank), restaurants, pharmacies and clubs are found at the former. Conversely, the latter is home to more traditional businesses including coffee shops, sundry shops, and hardware stores.
Healthcare The Damansara Jaya township contains various healthcare services.