Owners of the controversial Waterfront Condo on Bali Hai Pier ask for an opportunity to resume construction vs. demolish the building

By Goong Nang(GN

 

 

Pattaya – The construction company behind the controversial Waterfront Condo on Bali Hai Pier, under demolition orders, has formally requested for a re-construction license from Pattaya City Hall.

 

Many local residents and tourists have noticed the hulking 53 story condominium that stands incomplete and abandoned at the entrance to the Bali Hai pier. The story has been going on for many, many years. Rather than list the entire past story here, we will provide our complete in-depth article below detailing the history of the condo and its controversial past.

 

THE STORY BEHIND THE ABANDONED WATERFRONT CONDO NEAR BALI HAI PIER IN PATTAYA

 

In September of last year, the Pattaya City Council urged for legal action and demolishment against the controversial abandoned Waterfront condominium at Bali Hai Pier, as seen below. A legal demolition order was made against the building and owners.

 

PATTAYA CITY COUNCIL URGES FOR LEGAL ACTION, DEMOLISHMENT, AGAINST CONTROVERSIAL ABANDONED WATERFRONT CONDOMINIUM AT BALI HAI PIER

 

The last public news about the Waterfront condo was in late November of 2020, in which Pattaya City Mayor Sonthaya Khunplume said he planned to bring down the condo himself using city resources if the companies involved with it did not and bill them afterwards. The article about this is also below.

 

PATTAYA CITY PLANNING TO BRING DOWN AND DEMOLISH THE ABANDONED WATERFRONT CONDO ON BALI HAI PIER “ASAP” AND BILL THE OWNERS

 

Yesterday (October 9th), the Bali Hai Construction Company on behalf of the Bali Hai Company Limited, which has previously claimed to be bankrupt due to all the lawsuits surrounding the building, has officially filed a request for re-construction permission from the Pattaya City despite the demolition order, a somewhat surprising turn of events after nearly a year without public news. Behind the scenes, however, complicated lawsuits and discussions have taken place about the condo with passionate arguments on all sides, according to Pattaya City officials.

 

The major issue with the Waterfront, and why it “paused” construction in 2014 was as follows, taken from our most recent article about the condo in November of 2020:

 

Full story: https://thepattayanews.com/2021/10/10/owners-of-the-controversial-waterfront-condo-on-bali-hai-pier-ask-for-an-opportunity-to-resume-construction-vs-demolish-the-building/

 

-- © Copyright The Pattaya News 2021-10-11

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

 

 

Somebody that is uber in charge may push this through to construction, despite the shaky history of the thing.  I would not trust the structure after being open to the elements for so many years.  Salt water air, rain, and corrsion issues.  Elevator shafts flooded with water?  Basement flooded with water?  Animals, bird droppings by the ton?   How can this structure be solid at this point in time?  It is so butt ugly and ruins the skyline.

Either demolish it or build it. It presently serves as a huge warning monument to the perils of investing in real estate in Thailand.

Can't demolish it, probably 200 recently covid hit homeless thais living in it !

Just demolish the last 8 floors.

Ah, so here we have excuses for another 8 years of delays. 

1 hour ago, Destiny1990 said:

Just demolish the last 8 floors.

Just demolish the COE!

feel sorry for those handed money over, surely the people to sue are the local authority who granted permissing to build it

1 hour ago, Destiny1990 said:

Just demolish the last 8 floors.

The top eight or the bottom eight?

6 hours ago, gk10012001 said:

Somebody that is uber in charge may push this through to construction, despite the shaky history of the thing.  I would not trust the structure after being open to the elements for so many years.  Salt water air, rain, and corrsion issues.  Elevator shafts flooded with water?  Basement flooded with water?  Animals, bird droppings by the ton?   How can this structure be solid at this point in time?  It is so butt ugly and ruins the skyline.

Should fit in nicely then.

1 hour ago, Destiny1990 said:

Just demolish the last 8 floors.

Demolish the ground floor... LOl

5 minutes ago, smedly said:

feel sorry for those handed money over, surely the people to sue are the local authority who granted permissing to build it

so much under the table stuff went on, it would probably be quite a mess to untangle.  But as people move on, or are encouraged to not testify, or other things happen, who knows, maybe suits will go to trial. 

6 hours ago, gk10012001 said:

Somebody that is uber in charge may push this through to construction, despite the shaky history of the thing.  I would not trust the structure after being open to the elements for so many years.  Salt water air, rain, and corrsion issues.  Elevator shafts flooded with water?  Basement flooded with water?  Animals, bird droppings by the ton?   How can this structure be solid at this point in time?  It is so butt ugly and ruins the skyline.

"...the shaky history..."

 

Also just wondering about the actual quality of the construction, never looked to be all that good.

 

Would you want to live in this monstrosity, especially on a high floor? Me, NO.

After reading the history Thanks!  the back and forth denial especially from crook of a former mayor and officials who approved this project.  In Pattaya, when I hear "  environment review "  I can't stop laughing I wonder what is the standard never seen a project refused here the money spent on these reviews are nothing but to enrich the reviewer and the person who does the recommendations!

 

The story all the claims it wasn't me the more they claim it isn't the more it shows why the problem the building went up!  The saying is follow the money!  This is the same reason on WS they weren't able to tear down the buildings on the water front side at the meeting owners came and gave their story as to how the government land office approved all these illegal sales.

 

These story confirms the amount of brown envelopes that were past around and how bold these official are to think no one is going to noticed.  One thing I came away they should never allow this developer anywhere near Thailand know full well what was going on yet they continue to sell units you have to be pretty stupid and dishonest then take a walk.

 

With the purchase owners this will never go away due to deep pockets the best thing is to rid everyone that had a hand in the government land office and rid the former Mayor his position now in government one wonders how many of these other projects have been approved throughout Thailand?  It is best to take government money and just reimburse every buyer that is a win since the only people winning now are the lawyers.  This monument of a joke everyday it stands just shows why leaders call Thailand " The land of Smiles "????

They should get some of those Vegas hotel demolishers and blow it up.

A part of me thinks nothing will ever happen and it will stand indefinitely.

Owned by the Israelis....

1 hour ago, Destiny1990 said:

Just demolish the last 8 floors.

The bottom 8

The question really is to be  allowed   " how much"

Anyone remember the building collapse in Miami? That looks like it was due to spalling of the concrete and water getting at the steel rebars.  An unfinished building with untreated concrete laying idle for so many years will most likely have this same problem in a big way.

 

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Corrosion-of-the-steel-bars-and-spalling-of-the-concrete-in-a-viaduct_fig1_257806232

1 hour ago, Gsxrnz said:

The top eight or the bottom eight?

I think the middle 8!

Considering the brown envelope system in Thailand the thing that would concern me the most about this building would be the inspection and signing off of work done, I’d be keeping well clear of it. 

     I'm sure I am in the minority but I like the building and would like to see it finished, with, perhaps the very top step back floors removed.  I think it's an interesting design--especially the bridge between the two sections.  Pattaya sorely lacks interesting architecture and it should be encouraged rather than destroyed.  Now that other tall projects have gone up in its vicinity--such as Unixx--it does not look out of place in the skyline.  At some point other highrises will likely follow in that general area; I think some are already planned. 

  For those of you who might be curious about the project, the "Think of Living' Bangkok show did an episode on the project when it was first under construction.  My partner and I stumbled upon it by accident and I think it's still available.  We were impressed by how the interior design still looked quite fresh, interesting, and appealing to us.  

     The history on Waterfront has become quite muddled over the years with all sorts of reasons bandied about on why construction was stopped.  My take is the very vocal protests caused too much heat for the mayor and the city.  After first defending the project, reasons were found to halt the construction.  Reasons can always be found, whether legitimate or not.  There's no doubt in my mind that if the project had been by a large, powerful Bangkok developer, rather than a small foreign one, some sort of compromise would have been worked out long ago.   

   

8 hours ago, Gold Star said:

Either demolish it or build it. It presently serves as a huge warning monument to the perils of investing in real estate in Thailand.

So it does have a purpose. 

Good idea 

 

Just finish it.

 

I think it will be an icon of the new "Neo" Pattaya.

7 minutes ago, newnative said:

     I'm sure I am in the minority but I like the building and would like to see it finished, with, perhaps the very top step back floors removed.  I think it's an interesting design--especially the bridge between the two sections.  Pattaya sorely lacks interesting architecture and it should be encouraged rather than destroyed.  Now that other tall projects have gone up in its vicinity--such as Unixx--it does not look out of place in the skyline.  At some point other highrises will likely follow in that general area; I think some are already planned. 

  For those of you who might be curious about the project, the "Think of Living' Bangkok show did an episode on the project when it was first under construction.  My partner and I stumbled upon it by accident and I think it's still available.  We were impressed by how the interior design still looked quite fresh, interesting, and appealing to us.  

     The history on Waterfront has become quite muddled over the years with all sorts of reasons bandied about on why construction was stopped.  My take is the very vocal protests caused too much heat for the mayor and the city.  After first defending the project, reasons were found to halt the construction.  Reasons can always be found, whether legitimate or not.  There's no doubt in my mind that if the project had been by a large, powerful Bangkok developer, rather than a small foreign one, some sort of compromise would have been worked out long ago.   

   

I agree.

8 hours ago, Gold Star said:

Either demolish it or build it. It presently serves as a huge warning monument to the perils of investing in real estate in Thailand.

Yes indeed. But there still seems to be a never ending supply of people willing to take these risks. Its amazing that more of them aren't a total wipeout like this. I checked out a bunch of condo projects in 2010 and some ppl did fairly good on them. It all amounts to luck in my estimation. All of these developers are shady.

40 floors less, then it fits in...????

30 minutes ago, newnative said:

     I'm sure I am in the minority but I like the building and would like to see it finished, with, perhaps the very top step back floors removed.  I think it's an interesting design--especially the bridge between the two sections.  Pattaya sorely lacks interesting architecture and it should be encouraged rather than destroyed.  Now that other tall projects have gone up in its vicinity--such as Unixx--it does not look out of place in the skyline.  At some point other highrises will likely follow in that general area; I think some are already planned. 

  For those of you who might be curious about the project, the "Think of Living' Bangkok show did an episode on the project when it was first under construction.  My partner and I stumbled upon it by accident and I think it's still available.  We were impressed by how the interior design still looked quite fresh, interesting, and appealing to us.  

     The history on Waterfront has become quite muddled over the years with all sorts of reasons bandied about on why construction was stopped.  My take is the very vocal protests caused too much heat for the mayor and the city.  After first defending the project, reasons were found to halt the construction.  Reasons can always be found, whether legitimate or not.  There's no doubt in my mind that if the project had been by a large, powerful Bangkok developer, rather than a small foreign one, some sort of compromise would have been worked out long ago.   

   

I like the building, I like the design and I don't mind it being even taller. It may block part of the view from the hilltop, but it provides depth of field. And it needs to be tall to escape the stench from the sewer plant or whatever that thing is in front of Bali Hai Bay Hotel.

 

But I am also worried about the structural integrity of it at this point. Get some Germans to inspect it????

 

The only certainty is that the building will still be there 20 years from now with nothing resolved and with lawyers much, much richer. As are numerous abandoned buildings in Bangkok and elsewhere. And that doesn't even include Thailand's own Stonehenge, the Hopewell project.

1 hour ago, Rimmer said:

Anyone remember the building collapse in Miami? That looks like it was due to spalling of the concrete and water getting at the steel rebars.  An unfinished building with untreated concrete laying idle for so many years will most likely have this same problem in a big way.

 

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Corrosion-of-the-steel-bars-and-spalling-of-the-concrete-in-a-viaduct_fig1_257806232

I think Rimmer's post sums it up well for me, and I certainly wouldn't have anything to do with it – – demolish the building and start again if necessary, but no way IMO should they continue with this failed construction project after all this time of being open to the elements, with all that this entails.