Penang Turf Club redevelopment: How Penang should look to Singapore for inspiration

The closure of the Penang Turf Club presents a rare opportunity to redevelop a large area of land on the island. Penang should look to Singapore for racecourse redevelopment inspiration before they build another uninspiring car-dependent development.

The Penang Turf Club was founded in 1864, making it Malaysia’s oldest remaining horse-racing club. However, there has been a steady decline in interest in watching horses race in the tropics, so the members passed a resolution to dissolve the club in 2024. After over 160 years since its founding, the PTC will hold its final race meeting on May 31, 2025.

The closure follows in the footsteps of the Singapore Turf Club, which announced its closure in 2023. The STC held its last race on 5 October 2024, and the land will be returned to the government by 2027.

Unlike Singapore, which will use the land for affordable housing and sports facilities, the PTC’s land will be sold to the highest bidder, who can do whatever they please.

The PTC tried to sell the 202-acre prime land in late 2024, but there were no takers. The land will now be divided up into lots and auctioned off separately.

[Penang Turf Club parcels up for sale (graphic via theedgemalaysia.com).]

The quote for the new land auctions sums up the mentality of land development in Malaysia compared to Singapore.

“The PTC site stands as one of Penang’s most significant redevelopment opportunities with exceptional potential for a high-end integrated development, seamlessly blending luxury residences, premium commercial spaces, world-class hospitality and specialised institutions such as healthcare or education.”

Apart from the cringeworthy real estate buzzwords, does Penang need more luxury residences and premium commercial spaces? There is already an abundance of such developments being planned along the under-construction LRT line. There is also the Penang South Islands project, where a new island is being reclaimed for projects of a similar description.

[Map of Penang Turf Club and historic Georgetown area to the east (view map).]

The previous attempt to redevelop the Penang Turf Club

There was a previous plan to redevelop the racecourse in 2007. The Penang Global City Centre was a proposed mixed-use development featuring commercial and residential areas, with two 200-metre office towers. The project was eventually abandoned when it became evident that it wasn’t feasible.

[Penang Global City Centre.]

Future ideas for the Penang Turf Club

Such a large block of land offers a once-off opportunity to do something remarkable. The racecourse is too far inland and not near any planned metro line or major road, so building a mega development here wouldn’t be suitable for its location. As the graphic of the proposed Penang Global City Centre shows, a mega development would also look out of place at the foot of Penang Hill.

They should follow the Singapore model and build affordable housing with green space. There is no need to try to make everything high-end, luxury, premium, and world-class (unless it’s a world-class affordable housing project).

Here are some ideas for the turf club area.

A new city park

The most obvious use would be for a new city park. There is a lack of green space in the urban area of Penang, so a new park would be welcome.

The main problem with this is that it’s next to an already green area of Penang Hill. The new green space is not closer to where it is needed most. The other problem is that the turf club members are looking for a payday, so 100% allocation as a park isn’t going to happen.

A sports centre

In addition to a lack of green space in Malaysian cities, there is also a lack of sporting facilities. The turf club land would be an ideal space to build a sports centre with multiple venue types. Facilities such as swimming pools, running tracks, and indoor stadiums could be integrated into a green area that could be used by the general public as a park.

A green and walkable new urban area

My preference would be for a new urban area with a 50/50 mix of public green space and mixed-use development. The main condition of this would be that the developable land is divided up into small lots and sold individually. This would stop the land from being turned into unremarkable rows of cookie-cutter villas by a single developer that are only useful for the people who live there.

[A cookie-cutter housing development in Tasek Gelugor, Penang.]

This development model can be seen at My An Beach in Da Nang. A section of undeveloped beach area was gridded with new roads, and the land has been developed by individual businesses. The area is now thriving with all types of commercial and residential buildings. The main drawback was that there wasn’t enough green space built into the grid, thus my preference for a 50/50 green/development plan.

Lack of public transport

Whatever ends up being built here, one of the problems is the lack of public transport. The short-term solution is to run a bus service there.

There is a proposal to build a transit line near here (the Air Itam Monorail), though the nearest station would be Masjid Negeri Pulau Pinang (about a 20-minute walk away).

The Penang Global City Centre included a monorail in its proposal, but it didn’t say where. An option would be to have a branch line from the Air Itam Monorail to the Penang Turf Club site.

Considering how long it has taken for the first LRT line to get approved, the monorail proposal may not even happen.

Future development plans

The ideas for the Penang Turf Club development hinge on government approval. The government could step in and say they want a certain percentage of the land reserved for public space and affordable housing, with the rest open for any kind of development.

Without any government intervention, it will end up being another unremarkable new urban area, and then they wonder why people only go to the Georgetown UNESCO area when they go to Penang.

I will be keeping track of the Penang Turf Club redevelopment, and I will visit the site on my next trip.