Has Pattaya Finally Reached Saturation Point For New Buildings?

[thaibeachlovers]

Visited Pattaya Park the other day, and noticed a large hotel development next door that appears to have been abandoned mid build. There is also the very large concrete building near Alcazar on Second Road ( with the Sushi restaurant on ground level ) that remains mainly empty after at least a year.

With the present very low level of tourists ( even for low season ), and the deteriorating world economy, rising air fares etc etc, are the new big developments ( Central Festival, the condo next to it, the new place currently building next to The Avenue ), and indeed The Avenue itself, destined to become "ghost buildings" like all those ones in Bangkok after the '97 crash?

[Thaifan2]

Visited Pattaya Park the other day, and noticed a large hotel development next door that appears to have been abandoned mid build. There is also the very large concrete building near Alcazar on Second Road ( with the Sushi restaurant on ground level ) that remains mainly empty after at least a year.

With the present very low level of tourists ( even for low season ), and the deteriorating world economy, rising air fares etc etc, are the new big developments ( Central Festival, the condo next to it, the new place currently building next to The Avenue ), and indeed The Avenue itself, destined to become "ghost buildings" like all those ones in Bangkok after the '97 crash?

There are still loads of Asian tourists ,and that demographic is increasing as far as i can tell .The building next to the Avenue is going to be a high class Hotel by the way .

[Mighty Mouse]

New commercial buildings, apartment blocks, hotels, bars and shopping complexes going up everywhere and yet there is still a lot of undeveloped land out there.

I noticed that the Bali Hai Shopping complex that opened about two years ago, now has only a few shops still open...with not a customer in sight.

It makes me wonder who is losing the most money, the developers, the business owners or the landlords.

The current economic climate suggests that it may be some time before the big spending tourists return in large numbers.

[thaibeachlovers]

Visited Pattaya Park the other day, and noticed a large hotel development next door that appears to have been abandoned mid build. There is also the very large concrete building near Alcazar on Second Road ( with the Sushi restaurant on ground level ) that remains mainly empty after at least a year.

With the present very low level of tourists ( even for low season ), and the deteriorating world economy, rising air fares etc etc, are the new big developments ( Central Festival, the condo next to it, the new place currently building next to The Avenue ), and indeed The Avenue itself, destined to become "ghost buildings" like all those ones in Bangkok after the '97 crash?

There are still loads of Asian tourists ,and that demographic is increasing as far as i can tell .The building next to the Avenue is going to be a high class Hotel by the way .

If your "loads of Asian tourists" is referring to the ones that go around in huge tour buses, I have yet to see them shop anywhere other than Mike's Shopping Mall.

Just what Pattaya needs, another high class hotel!

[PattayaParent]

They're probably money laundering projects like that one down Beach Road in Jomtien that was built 20 years ago, only occupied about 10 years ago and has been completely empty for the last 3 years at least.

[DonTron]

is also the very large concrete building near Alcazar on Second Road

The "Moonlight Complex" was supposed to become the highclass luxury party place for rich Asian and Russian tourists, but only Fashion club became successful. They never finished Moonlight Complex and they never build the Rasputin Russian Disco either.

Anyone know why? Did they run out of money?

Edited September 2, 2008 by DonTron

[TheWalkingMan]

As long as there is empty land someone will stick a building on it.

And as far as Bali Hai Shopping complex goes, they just opened (within the last 45 days) a Starbucks there. Maybe a sign of things to come. The complex also has a jewelery shop which seems to shut down for the slow season. Maybe that will be the way of Pattaya in the future, close down the business during the slow season and open during the high.

TheWalkingMan

[NotNew2You]

I have been wondering about this too...but I've been wondering for the past 5 years and they still keep throwing up new condos, hotels, shophouse rows, shopping malls, and housing estates...so there must still be plenty of money in it. Of course, that's what everybody said about the (in hindsight) real estate bubbles in the US, Britain, Japan, and Spain too...until the bottoms fell out of all of them also.

And you didn't even mention the proposed huge Waterfront and South Point developments on the drawing boards for the Bali Hai pier area, the (I guess it's still around) Ocean 1 Tower in Jomtien, the next VT project wherever it might spring up, and all the other stuff we don't even know about. Is there demand now for what's already built and will there be demand for all the stuff coming down the line?

The other nite, I spent some time in the entertainment area at the top of sois 1,2 & 3...the beer bars in that area and it was a mess. I had not been down there in maybe 9 months and it was completely dead! Of course, it didn't help matters that it seems half the street frontage from sois 1-4 beachside is in the process of being torn down and rebuild as condos or what-have-you. I quickly left and came on home as the area lacked anything of interest.

This brings up the question that interests me of when the tipping point is reached that they tear down enough of the entertainment areas to build condos that the tourists that come for the nitelife don't have enough to interest them anymore and stop coming and then there is no one to sell all the newly built condos too. I wonder if we could be getting near that point?

Edited September 2, 2008 by NotNew2You

[thaibeachlovers]

I have been wondering about this too...but I've been wondering for the past 5 years and they still keep throwing up new condos, hotels, shophouse rows, shopping malls, and housing estates...so there must still be plenty of money in it. Of course, that's what everybody said about the (in hindsight) real estate bubbles in the US, Britain, Japan, and Spain too...until the bottoms fell out of all of them also.

And you didn't even mention the proposed huge Waterfront and South Point developments on the drawing boards for the Bali Hai pier area, the (I guess it's still around) Ocean 1 Tower in Jomtien, the next VT project wherever it might spring up, and all the other stuff we don't even know about. Is there demand now for what's already built and will there be demand for all the stuff coming down the line?

The other nite, I spent some time in the entertainment area at the top of sois 1,2 & 3...the beer bars in that area and it was a mess. I had not been down there in maybe 9 months and it was completely dead! Of course, it didn't help matters that it seems half the street frontage from sois 1-4 beachside is in the process of being torn down and rebuild as condos or what-have-you. I quickly left and came on home as the area lacked anything of interest.

This brings up the question that interests me of when the tipping point is reached that they tear down enough of the entertainment areas to build condos that the tourists that come for the nitelife don't have enough to interest them anymore and stop coming and then there is no one to sell all the newly built condos too. I wonder if we could be getting near that point?

I don't think there's any danger of that at present, as as fast as they tear down one block of bars another springs up somewhere else. More of a "danger", IMO, is that if the pound continues to sink, and the airfares continue to rise, us middle income earners just won't be able to come any more, and it'll all become up market and too expensive anyway.

There's nothing to stop them jumping on the Japanese retirement bandwagon, selling Pattaya as a retirement centre for oldies, and the BGs will all become home helps!