"Waterfront Pattaya": A "never ending epic" but eyesore could soon be demolished

[webfact]

"Waterfront Pattaya": A "never ending epic" but eyesore could soon be demolished

 

Picture: Manager Online

 

It is one of the ugliest things in Pattaya. And also one of the longest lasting. 

 

A 53 story building on the bay in South Pattaya that has been the subject of legal wrangling for a decade and more. 

 

The Waterfront Suites and Residences first started building in 2008 on two rai of land and promised 312 condo rooms.

 

Foreigners and Thais snapped up purchases between four and 10 million baht. 

 

Picture: Manager Online

 

But Itthiphon Khunpluem - a former mayor - called a halt to building before it was finished citing planning regulations and a host of other legal matters. 

 

Now Manager reported that what they called a "never ending epic" may be drawing to a conclusion. 

 

Picture: Manager Online

 

The current mayor Sontaya Khunpluem has called in tenders from contractors for the building's demolition. 

 

They reported that a long running saga of a building that blights the Pattaya skyline could soon be coming to an end.

 

Source: Manager Online

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2020-11-25

 

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[johng]

Hoozaaa  at long last, but i'll believe it when I see it gone  ????

[NanLaew]

So a Khunpluem approved of the building in 2008 before ordering a stop to construction in 2014 and its destruction in 2016. What's the odds on another Khunpluem winning the demolition tender?

Edited November 25, 2020 by NanLaew

[Golden Triangle]

3 hours ago, NanLaew said:

So a Khunpluem approved of the building in 2008 before ordering a stop to construction in 2014 and its destruction in 2016. What's the odds on another Khunpluem winning the demolition tender?

Bang on the money there mate ????????

[pattayadude]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

But Itthiphon Khunpluem - a former mayor - called a halt to building before it was finished citing planning regulations and a host of other legal matters. 

and All THIS flew under the former mayor's radar? yeah right!..wait wait..you mean to tell me that the mayor realized the building was too high or something was wrong with the project after it was topped off at some 200 meters height? oh wow, that's a sharp guy! ...and now his brother, the current mayor will see to it that it gets demolished? ok , I trust that...and their father was who? swell!

Edited November 25, 2020 by pattayadude

[ChrisY1]

Just another foreigner rip off with many prepaying deposits and progress payments.....my guess is that no-one has been reimbursed a dime....this guy is a serious crook!

[SomchaiCNX]

16 minutes ago, pattayadude said:

and All THIS flew under the mayor's radar? and now his brother will see to it that it gets demolished? and their father was who? swell!

Let me guess, Khamnang Pho ? And then everybody wonders why politicians in Thailand are........

[Guderian]

It's a shame that they can't find a compromise to chop off, say, ten or fifteen floors and then complete it. Such a huge waste of money, materials and effort, all that CO₂ for nothing, poor Greta will be choking on her Surströmming, lol. But I guess in the time-honoured Thai way, there's more money to be made for the powers-that-be in demolishing it than there would be in completing it.

[LALes]

Its a f$%#ing eyesore!   Get rid of it ASAP.

[miamiman123]

Similar to that monster in Bangkok! Saphan Thaksin!

I mean the building there not the former PM! 

[pattayadude]

34 minutes ago, Guderian said:

there's more money to be made for the powers-that-be in demolishing it than there would be in completing it.

I personally think these crooks know very well that in the long haul, more dough can be made with a "vertical" building  than a "horizontal" one..well, you know the drill. Brown envelopes for the construction and more in property taxes later.

Edited November 25, 2020 by pattayadude

[wombat]

a controlled demolition to coincide with tourism returning to LOS would kick it off with a bang

[Jimbo53]

1 hour ago, SomchaiCNX said:

Let me guess, Khamnang Pho ? And then everybody wonders why politicians in Thailand are........

All because a statue cant se Ko Larn through the upper storeys,another feather in Thailands cap,and another warning to anyone planning on investnent in Thailand,there must be some angry peopĺe running around with burnt A**es!

[Howiehotspur]

I jog passed it and near it daily ...  seeing is believing... 

but you live in hope .. 

I know nothing of civil engineering,but it’s going to be some task I’d imagine 

( blown it up ? ) demolition? 

[johng]

12 minutes ago, Jimbo53 said:

All because a statue cant se Ko Larn through the upper storeys,

It really is  very intrusive and  dominates the whole area  

should never have been built in that location in my opinion.

 

[eddie61]

As to the possibility that there was even a whiff of corruption involved in the whole process......

 

well, that is completely absurd and it would be unpatriotic to make further investigations!

[Rawairat]

Probably have plans for  something taller to replace it!!!

[swissbie]

1 hour ago, miamiman123 said:

Similar to that monster in Bangkok! Saphan Thaksin!

I mean the building there not the former PM! 

At least, the "Sathorn Ghost Tower" is not half as ugly as that thing in Pattaya..

[Oldie]

They could demolish it on New Years Eve as special tourist event. Many explosions and fireworks in the building and then it collapses at midnight. And now you can see the hill without the building and a big firework starts from there. 

[Surasak]

A similar construction has stood in the centre of Khon Kaen for 14 years to my knowledge. It is now in quite a state of disrepair, but I am informed it has been earmarked for completion, not sure by whom. White elephants of a similar nature seem to abound around Thailand. I have seen many on my travels, although not as bad as that mostrosity in Pattaya.

[pattayadude]

People obviously don't expect some utopic  honesty and purity from politicians but they do expect a modest form of protection from  massive corruption such as in this project.  I can even understand late turnover because of mistakes in the build, strict enforcement of inspections and adhering to building codes religiously, causing long delays... but losing it all?? just because developer allegedly built the entire 50 floors  "different than the plans" and the City inspectors did not do any inspection of this massive skyscraper during the entire rough construction for the entire 2 years and therefor didn't catch it(!) or were not required to do an inspection(!) i.e. every 5-10 floors, so mistakes were only discovered until it reached the 50th floor??  Tell that to a 10 year old and watch him roll on the floor laughing for an hour!

Criminality and misconduct stinks to high heavens in this project!

 

One wonders if this project had already been planned "not to be finished" from the beginning given the height and the location, and everybody involved just acted as if it would, meanwhile pocketing millions of dollars as planned, and eventually was halted at some point just like planned.

Edited November 25, 2020 by pattayadude

[pattayadude]

6 minutes ago, Oldie said:

They could demolish it on New Years Eve as special tourist event. Many explosions and fireworks in the building and then it collapses at midnight. And now you can see the hill without the building and a big firework starts from there. 

life must be very boring  in Pattaya lately ????

[Grumpy one]

Do Thai's have experience demolishing over 6 floors.

It will be interesting to see how they manage it, from a great distance that is.  ????

[ronaldo0]

They let it get that far before saying it didn’t meet planning regulations. ? ????????

[DefaultName]

Send the army in with a couple of tanks. Bang bang, down.

[aussienam]

You think that is bad?  Come to the Gold Coast in Queensland Australia - there is and has been definitely lots of brown envelopes between mayors, certifiers, property developers etc with high rises popping up like mushrooms, blocking out people's views. 

 

The developers don't give a damn and approvals you just scratch your and shake it in disbelief at what is allowed.  Real estate come in and spruik overpriced apartments, etc for their lucrative commissions.  And greedy governments reap in the extra taxes on top.  The top of end of town are the winners.  

 

It has turned the place into a concrete jungle.  If you live there the acoustics are awful with sounds bouncing off buildings, rev-heads screeching up and down with massively loud exhausts that just reverberate and bounce off buildings as there is no place for sound waves to dissipate freely. 

 

So, point is, it happens everywhere.  There's crooks everywhere.  

[pattayadude]

2 minutes ago, aussienam said:

If you live there the acoustics are awful with sounds bouncing off buildings, rev-heads screeching up and down with massively loud exhausts that just reverberate and bounce off buildings as there is no place for sound waves to dissipate freely. 

Loud exotic cars and superbikes are the worse..I experience this in my Manila condo all day

[Keesters]

I've seen uglier down Soi 6.

[RJRS1301]

1 hour ago, Suradit69 said:

If only they could be as honest as politicians and government  in farang Utopia. This sort of thing wouldn’t be tolerated in Washington , London or wherever the chosen people are in charge. Certainly everybody doesn’t wonder about such things there.

 

Everybody ever wonder  about the lovely Grenfell Tower? Everything above board, for example.

 

   

 

 

I think the difference is the very openess and the transparency of the nepotism, which people find confounding .

People vote them in with full knowledge of the nepotism

At least the Bush family let a few years of change between em

[natway09]

There is more to this than meets the eye.

Simple, Who (if anybody stamped & sealed the plans on behalf of the council (fired)

Building Inspector at the time ? cannot read plans   fired

If I was the developer & have in my possession a signed, stamped approved set of building plans 

& it has been built as per plan we would have been in court by now so what did happen?

Built with no EPA approval ?

Please tell