Is Thailand Value for money

[whimsy]

I have noticed quite a few new and more upmarket places opening in the Santitam area in the last few months. Today I saw a much nicer than the average for the area apartment block under construction near the Niyom Panich shop corner. Then there is the still rather empty, but nicely constructed Santitam Plaza that opened a couple of months ago.

Apart from a few nice houses and apartments in some of the side streets, this area has long been a fairly grubby, but cheap and highly populated student zone. It has a lot of character.

Is Santitam about to experience the kind of makeover and subsequent boom in land prices that the Nimmenheimin area went through in the last 2 - 3 years? Perhaps Nimmenheimen is becoming too expensive and trendy for the students it used to serve and the type of student places that once were there are relocating to the Santitam area?

[davidgtr]

I have noticed quite a few new and more upmarket places opening in the Santitam area in the last few months. Today I saw a much nicer than the average for the area apartment block under construction near the Niyom Panich shop corner. Then there is the still rather empty, but nicely constructed Santitam Plaza that opened a couple of months ago.

Apart from a few nice houses and apartments in some of the side streets, this area has long been a fairly grubby, but cheap and highly populated student zone. It has a lot of character.

Is Santitam about to experience the kind of makeover and subsequent boom in land prices that the Nimmenheimin area went through in the last 2 - 3 years? Perhaps Nimmenheimen is becoming too expensive and trendy for the students it used to serve and the type of student places that once were there are relocating to the Santitam area?

IMHO I don't think.

[BlackArtemis]

Almost every Thai person I know has nothing good to say about that area, so IMO it would be a tough sell.

[Loaded]

Almost every Thai person I know has nothing good to say about that area

Almost every Thai man I know has good to say about that area!

[anonymouse]

After 12 years coming to Chiang Mai I'd never heard of the area until a friend moved into an apartment there this month.

Not sure if I'm right about what Loaded is alluding to but if I'm correct maybe that's the reason my friend likes the area

[Greenside]

I think you're spot on, but it'll take a while. I was talking to a real estate guy (or one who was trying to be) and although he had nothing good to say about it, I think it could easily be the Next Place To Be.

[Bananaman]

Where is this area?

[PeaceBlondie]

I understand Santitam to be the area near the roundabout/traffic box, north of the YMCA, north of Chang Puak gate and a bit west of that gate. I used to walk through there when I lived at Vianping Mansion (2003-2005), and I used to get my hair cut at the shop near the police box. Wasn't aware it's getting trendy.

[Ulysses G.]

Almost every Thai person I know has nothing good to say about that area, so IMO it would be a tough sell.

I always had a soft spot for it!

[Loaded]

I understand Santitam to be the area near the roundabout/traffic box, north of the YMCA, north of Chang Puak gate and a bit west of that gate. I used to walk through there when I lived at Vianping Mansion (2003-2005), and I used to get my hair cut at the shop near the police box. Wasn't aware it's getting trendy.

There's a joke here but I can't quite nail it at the moment PB.

Edited January 17, 2008 by Loaded

[PeaceBlondie]

Well, there must be a joke there somewhere. Is my hair getting trendy? Is the police box getting trendy?

I never thought, never noticed that neighborhood. Golden Ball, a gay bar, is several blocks from the roundabout, but I haven't been round there in about a few months.

[Ulysses G.]

15 years ago, it used to be PACKED with brothels of every type with places that specialized in males, females, shemales, and somewhat underaged sexworkers of both sexes. I avoided the area completely!

[mcgriffith]

Sure ya did, UG dude....!

[Ulysses G.]

Sure ya did, UG dude....!

You got me, oh great and wise moderator.

[Puwa]

I wouldn't expect it to "boom," but in the long term (10 years +) it may have potential.

[BlackArtemis]

It still is home to 10b lao kao and 50b women. It might have been 15years since the hieght of it all, but in people's minds 15 years isn't enough.

[Loaded]

I would imagine that large open area near Tops must be ripe for development.

[Sao Jiang Mai]

The latest revamp of the land evaluation has been a huge increase per tarangwah. For instance a 110 wah peice of land off Nim Road was valued at 5 million last year. Last week it went up to 10 million! Irrigation Canal Road has also gone up by about 40%.

[JoshMyPickle]

Can't say I have lived in Chiang Mai for nearly as long as some of the sketchpats lurking around here, but after 6 months, I definitely thought that Santitham was the next big prime area for gentrification, once Canal Road is developed. I give it 5 years, not 10.

Nimmanhaemin's renaissance is going to plateau sooner than later, but when exactly ultimately depends on how fast CNX air traffic builds up... the disturbances created by the current flight path directly overhead will only worsen as additional international flights arrive and long-overdue direct R/T connections are finally made to Krabi/Phuket/etc. And inevitably, one of those jets will eventually crash into a nearby condo--I predict the "103" building--or maybe even the mountain...

...then again, I've also heard talk of building a new airport?

[Loaded]

Has nimanheimann been developed? There are some new coffee shops, some poorly built shopping units and a couple of expat condos but not really any major development. The problem is Thais don't want the cost of demolishing old buildings so they'll always look for 'virgin' areas to build new blocks of shophouses that nobody wants.