Mystery new developments on main road Kamala??

[ChasingTheSun]

There is now a very large steel beam frame for a new structure being erected on the east side of the main west coast road in kamala, across the road from cafe del mar. Anyone know what its going to be? Shops, condo, hotel?

 

in addition, a large area of trees on the west side of the main road, opposite side of the Fantasea,  has been clearcut just this week. Anyone know if something is going to built there soon?

[phuketrichard]

across form Cafe del mar'; where the villas, shopping mall is going in.

[Shot]

I was wondering about the clearcut too. It's actually just south of the Friday/Monday market/coconut farm, between the main road and Sunprime Resorts. It's a huge chunk of land. Also note the NW corner (or so) of the market area has a new Myanmar office and outhouse with plenty of clear area for a large camp.

 

 

[ChasingTheSun]

1 hour ago, phuketrichard said:

across form Cafe del mar'; where the villas, shopping mall is going in.

Just to clarify....You are saying that the new multilevel fancy steel frame structure is going to be a mall?

[Shot]

^^ I think it's going to be the entrance for the new Safari World that runs down the backside of FantaSea

[Psimbo]

They cleared most of the big camp for the construction workers working on the condos/hotels/apartments across from Del Mar the other week. I think the Op is on about the steel structures being built by Fantasea. At the moment it is probably the world's biggest Elephant Hangar. Stand by for it to become a Casino within 2 years is my bet. 

 

South end of town the Mountain View has been cleared. From the Klong to 'Mayden' Corner is a big chunk of land .

 

Interesting though I noticed this morning that at least 4 more businesses along the main road have closed but they continue to over-develop.

 

Edit: it's not exactly 'new' either. Construction has been going on there for about 8 months (The elephant Hangar that is, not the massive development that has been pouring wast into the klong on a regular basis).

[ChasingTheSun]

For the large framed structure across from cafe del mar, so far we have:

- an elephant barn and /or entrance of a safari complex

- or a shopping mall

 

IMHO, a safari or elephant barn would be a huge waste of extremely valuable west coast land, and i am hoping thats not what its going to be. I am hoping its a mall, cause it would be good to have more f&b choices and an alternative to big C in kamala. We could use a Makro, coffee club, starbucks, BK, Macdonalds, KFC, wine connection, good sushi etc.

 

East side of Sunwing Hotel:

You guys are saying it could be a labor camp. IMO, the plot of land is way too big and way too valuable to become a labor camp. Heck, they just completed the huge intercontinental and mount azure hotel projects, and i never really saw a labor camp from the road. Maybe they were bussing them in everyday from elsewhere? 

 

Casino:

I feel a casino in patong probably makes much more sense than in Kamala, however they certainly have space in kamala for a good size casino along the main artery.

 

i never noticed any news stories about any of the mystery aforementioned developments. Have you guys seen any press, or are you speculating, or do you have insider knowledge from a contact?

 

 

 

 

[Joe Mcseismic]

Gambling (except for the lottery) is still illegal in Thailand, so, no casino.

Labour camps are temporary, so the size and quality of the land is irrelevant.

[ChasingTheSun]

20 minutes ago, Joe Mcseismic said:

Gambling (except for the lottery) is still illegal in Thailand, so, no casino.

Labour camps are temporary, so the size and quality of the land is irrelevant.

You are right about the current gambling law, however it can take a couple of years to complete a building after groundbreaking, and they haven’t broken ground on anything yet, they just clear-cut the trees. 

 

There is also plenty of less valuable cleared land already available elsewhere in kamala, so  it doesn’t make sense to occupy prime main-street land with workers camps for even just a couple of years or longer. In addition, the area of land seems far too big for just a labor camp.

[Joe Mcseismic]

If they were building a casino, because they know something, it would have to get a building permit, which would be refused because gambling is still illegal.

I haven't seen the land that you're talking about, but, it's much cheaper to have workers living on-site. No transport costs and no rent to pay.

[Shot]

The labor camp I was describing is on the NW corner of the coconut farm/Friday/Monday market, I'll assume that is being setup for whatever is going to be built between Sunprime Resorts and the main road. 

 

I heard rumor today from a questionable source it's (the clear cut area between Sunprime and the main road) going to be Tesco Lotus similar in size the to the one in Bang Tao with other services, like McDs, Pizza Co., Bank, coffee shop, plenty of parking. I hope so, BigC Kamala sucks the big D.

 

Safari World is a sister company to FantaSea and it's being built now. I don't know if the steel structure in the OP is the entrance, that was just a guess, but Safari World is real and is coming like it or not. There was a ThaiVisa article about it few years back, but I couldn't find it for reference.

 

Shazam!

[phuketrichard]

Fantasea originally was built with the intention of getting a casino license way way back, hence reason they have HUGE covered area and a helicopter pad and land that goes up the mountain in the back

 

You all do know who has a big investment in the intercontinental an cafe del mar??

hint, he travels often to Germany where he was spotted last week cycling and got his photo in the paper..

 

[Chefgno]

Kamala is going to be just as bad as Patong someday. It was nice and quiet before. Now it’s back to raking in the cash and screw everything else that is worth while. I’m glad I don’t own here. 

[Psimbo]

3 hours ago, Joe Mcseismic said:

If they were building a casino, because they know something, it would have to get a building permit, which would be refused because gambling is still illegal.

I haven't seen the land that you're talking about, but, it's much cheaper to have workers living on-site. No transport costs and no rent to pay.

Errr- read what I said please. 'Stand by for it to become a Casino within 2 years is my bet.' I am fully aware that gambling is illegal at present, hence my reference to a large building that can quickly be converted.

 

Once a certain person pops their clogs the whole country will open up after a suitable amount of time. It ties in with what phuketrichard commented on above. Its all about the money- and I hope my comment is ambiguous enough to stop pele putting me on the naughty step again (well, it's been at least a week!).

 

As for going down the route of starbucks, McDs BK etc personally O think its pretty sad that people would welcome that sort of thing in Kamala. Fortunately we have escaped it so far. I concur about Big C sucking the big one, yet another rumour has it that as well as a big Tescos there could be a Makro going in but as this was to have occurred last Jan I consider my source dubious at best. Also the possibility of a PTT where the Friday Market is (so that means ANOTHER  7/11.

 

Rumours- I love them???? 

[ChasingTheSun]

2 hours ago, Shot said:

 

I heard rumor today from a questionable source it's (the clear cut area between Sunprime and the main road) going to be Tesco Lotus similar in size the to the one in Bang Tao with other services, like McDs, Pizza Co., Bank, coffee shop, plenty of parking. I hope so, BigC Kamala sucks the big D.

 

I hope that rumor is true.

 

We need all that stuff, plus a Makro hopefully.

 

 

[ChasingTheSun]

3 hours ago, Chefgno said:

Kamala is going to be just as bad as Patong someday. It was nice and quiet before. Now it’s back to raking in the cash and screw everything else that is worth while. I’m glad I don’t own here. 

 

Kamala remains one of the best, if not the best, west coast towns to live in. I doubt it will ever be anywhere near “as bad as Patong”. Patong is a classic example of a completely uncontrolled building frenzy. 

 

For better or for worse, “development” is inevitable in every west coast town in Phuket, so residents just need to hope they do it fairly well.

 

So far, the two new 5 star hotels(+ beach clubs) on the north end of kamala beach appear to be good quality, and will enhance kamala as an “upmarket” tourist town.  A new well designed shopping center with a variety of F&b outlets will also enhance kamalas appeal for both tourists and residents. 

 

Hopefully the developers will avoid swamping kamala with a bunch of new cheap guesthouses, like they made the mistake of doing in Patong over the last few years.

 

Ultimately, proper sewage treatment facilities will be the key to whether or not Kamala(and any other beach town) remains sustainable long term as a nice beach town to visit or live in.