The Hoontrakul family is returning to property development this year with the launch of a green community mall in Cha-am in Phetchaburi province in April.
Anek Hoontrakul, president of St James Hotel Co, said the company would spend 450-500 million baht to develop the project on an 86-rai plot next to Dusit Resort and Polo Club.
About 200 million baht will be used to develop the 28-rai first phase — the Botaneo lifestyle mall and a 300-room four-star hotel.
Construction of the mall will start in the next two or three months and will deliver space to tenants for decoration in November. The mall will cover 44,800 square metres, with about 20% devoted to restaurants, shops, a supermarket, banks and spas. The remaining space will be used for a garden, a lake, a maze, a children’s playground and a walkway leading down to the beach. The mall will be separated into six zones with 100 tenants and parking for 500 cars.
Mr Anek said the development had been postponed for three years because he was not confident in the density of population and tourists.
“It is the right time to dust off the project because the tourism business in Cha-am, Hua Hin and Pran Buri is continuing to grow. There are more than 19,000 rooms from three-star to five-star star hotels, condominiums and holiday homes, while there are good golf courses in Hua Hin and Cha-am. The number of tourist arrivals to Hua Hin was about two million last year, contributing about 9 billion baht,” he said.
Botaneo will be a new destination for middle- to high-end customers to dine, chill out, shop or even have spa treatments in the same compound.
Space reservations began last month. The company expects about 60% of space to be booked by May and 100% by early next year. It aims to have 70 million baht in rental income per year and expects to break even within four years after completion.
It will then spend another 250-300 million baht to develop a 100-villa resort on a 75-rai plot behind its shopping mall in 2015. The project will be opened in 2016. Room rates for villas will be 10,000 baht per night.
The company also plans to invest 150-180 million baht to develop an 80-villa project in Trat province in the next nine years.
Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com
