Shophouse Fever

[ThaiPauly]

I cannot help but to be amazed and intreagued as to why so many shophouses are being built on the inner ring road, the road that leads to Global House.

It seemed to start when they built a row of four a couple of years ago a couple of hundred metres down from the new Land and House development

They have been finished two years now and three are still empty.

Despite this last year another row was quickly built on the opposite side of the road.....still all empty and for sale.

Crossing the traffic lights between Big C and Global there must be a dozen other rows that have either been built or are being built, apart from the odd one that has an occupant...they are all empty....yet they continue building them as if the land will all soon be gone.

It's not ONLY this particular ring road ...I have seen loads all over the city, built and empty

Maybe it's becuase the cost of materials is increasing and they won't be able to build for the price they are building now in 2 years or so.?

But if that was the case would they not be better putting their money into something that can show a quicker return, or are all these people so wealthy that they just need somewhere to dump their surplus cash and wait

Has anyone any answers, failing that ideas as to why these people/companies are building like this?

Someone told me that they had it on good authority that a skytrain was being built round the city...maybe thats it

I dont beleive that will ever happen though

[Blinky Bill]

]Replying to Shophouse Fever - Do they know something we don't?

But who are they Thai Poorly?

http://medialacache5.badongo.com/0884498173211799/7985432/image/2007-10-06/org/strangeimage.gif?dl=y&ts=1223305619&z=bf06bde8fe0e445a96798569cc53ad35&ip=218.185.75.36[/img

Edited October 6, 2008 by Blinky Bill

[gpdjohn]

[highonthai]

I was all fired up to buy one just outside my moo ban, Price 2mill. Until I came to my sences and relized that I had no control over what whould be in the shop next to me. Sheetmetal,awning shop or some other dirty or noise making type of shop.Now that their are tons of them being built Thought it better to wait for an established building. By the way, the one I was going to buy is still vacant. After 5 months.

I was told by my banker is that they are taking a harder look when lending funds for a family home but are ok with a shophouse.

There seems to be a glut of repos of single family homes, The bank feel better about lending on commercial property.

[Greenside]

I cannot help but to be amazed and intreagued as to why so many shophouses are being built on the inner ring road, the road that leads to Global House.

It seemed to start when they built a row of four a couple of years ago a couple of hundred metres down from the new Land and House development

They have been finished two years now and three are still empty.

Despite this last year another row was quickly built on the opposite side of the road.....still all empty and for sale.

Crossing the traffic lights between Big C and Global there must be a dozen other rows that have either been built or are being built, apart from the odd one that has an occupant...they are all empty....yet they continue building them as if the land will all soon be gone.

It's not ONLY this particular ring road ...I have seen loads all over the city, built and empty

Maybe it's becuase the cost of materials is increasing and they won't be able to build for the price they are building now in 2 years or so.?

But if that was the case would they not be better putting their money into something that can show a quicker return, or are all these people so wealthy that they just need somewhere to dump their surplus cash and wait

Has anyone any answers, failing that ideas as to why these people/companies are building like this?

Someone told me that they had it on good authority that a skytrain was being built round the city...maybe thats it

I dont beleive that will ever happen though

It's bizarre. There must be thousands of empty units around the city and built in places no-one in their right minds would ever do any trading from. Still if you think it's bad here, try Koh Samui - I was amazed at the number of vacant shop houses there with more being built by the month.

Good to see some people still have a sense of humour though - this one is on the outer, outer ring road in the middle of nowhere....

[Blinky Bill]

Let me try again....... the booze is wearing off.

Replying to Shophouse Fever - Do they know something we don't?

But who are they Thai Poorly?

[Greenside]

[hml367]

Does the term, "mortgage meltdown", ring any bells?

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Well.. If there's anything I'm noticing about many of the new shop houses going up is that they are FAR nicer in design and finishing than was the standard for the last 50 years or so..

You can just look at it.. More often they build just two together in a block with some space in between, more often they put on a proper roof (rectangular pyramid shape, I'm sure there's a word for that ) rather than just a roof with no sides, kid of a triangular shape but with the top of the triangle far more towards the front of thouse.

You also see the difference in the matrials used. This applies to a lot of them on the Middle Ring (say, before getting to Global House) as well as in the Canal Road area sort of between the Middle and Third ring.

I think it makes good sense to build structures of that type on what will become very busy roads, part of the center of town. Much prefer it to factories, warehouses and the like.

Here's one example; two units together you so could buy a block and having it be a detached unit; shop/business/office/resto downstairs and plenty of living space upstairs.

IMHO this is far better than being in a building were you'll have some run-down shops next door who won't do any maintenance or painting for the next 30 years. No need to look further than Bangkok for some truly horrific examples on "How to make your town look like Mogadishu in one easy step." (answer: invest a bit in glass and chrome downstairs, but and let the upstairs deteriorate as if you were in some basket-case African country. It's the predominant architectural feature of Bangkok..)

Edited October 7, 2008 by WinnieTheKhwai

[Greenside]

Well.. If there's anything I'm noticing about many of the new shop houses going up is that they are FAR nicer in design and finishing than was the standard for the last 50 years or so..

I quite agree. There are some good designs on the ring road and Canal Road near Ratchapreuk but still way too many in my view.

[ThaiPauly]

They may look nice now....but commercial buildings only ever get painted once in LOS !!

Look at the shophouses in town

[cmsally]

I thought the usual scenario was, build a row of shophouses, manage to sell a few. How many depends on economic climate and location. Get stuck with at least 2, get into financial trouble with the bank ( not to mention that any profit was in those last units). Pressured into making a deal with the bank who gets to turn the last units into a new banking branch for minimal rent ad infinitum (or at least until they are assured of getting that loan back - word never springs to mind).

That's my theory anyway. Lots of the shophouses have banks in them!

[PeaceBlondie]

I question what happens to traffic when the ring roads become lined with shop houses. The road that really makes a ring, 121, has more underpasses than any road in town, including the superhighway that loops around from Rincome/Niemenheimen to head south toward Lamphun. Forget numbers like ring road 2B, I mean the one that goes underneath Hang Dong Road and past Global House. You can now race from the SanSai/Doi Sakhet turnoff, all the way around the south side to the Canal Road, at 120 kph without stopping once. But when every Tom, Dick and Somchai has to make a U-turn or is going down the road the wrong way from one shop to another, it is no longer limited access or a fast road. Oh well, there goes the neighborhood.