[1][2] The first apartment blocks were completed in 1985, and they remain among the few formalised low-cost housing areas in the vicinity of the city's UNESCO World Heritage Site.

[4] In 1969, the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) was formed under the direction of newly elected Chief Minister Lim Chong Eu, partly to address the issue of urban overcrowding within the city.

[5] As part of the solution, Macallum Street Ghaut (ghat) was designated one of the four Comprehensive Development Areas (CDA) in the city proper.

[5] The PDC planned to reclaim 20.2 hectares (50 acres) off Macallum Street to build inexpensive European-style apartment blocks to house residents displaced by the concurrent Komtar project nearby.

[1] In total, seven apartment blocks were constructed and remain a major inhabited residential pocket at the periphery of George Town's UNESCO World Heritage Site, in spite of the continuing depopulation of the city centre.